The Heroes of Olympus: 3: The Bronze Coin
by NanetteRyder
Summary: Unfinished business with the previous book proves dangerous when Gaea choses to use the bronze token she received. Piper, Gwen, and Annabeth go against the waking Mother Earth to save Percy's life when Fates cross what should be and what is.
1. Chapter 1

**The Bronze Coin: All Rights to Rick Riordan**

** _Chapter I: ANNABETH: He's A Cheater_**

The first thing Annabeth did when she caught her breath was run up the hill and punch Percy. Before he could fall over, she had him in a biggest hug, threatening to break his ribs, believing she could never let him go. Then she looked over to his two companions. It was Bianca and a girl who looked just like Percy.

"Bianca di Angelo? Grover said he'd found you with Percy. I thought he'd eaten one too many enchiladas, though!"

"Grover does like his enchiladas." the other girl answered, her face completely smooth and expressionless. Annabeth looked her over, hoping she would never get in a fight with her. The girl didn't look to be one of Ares's kids, (but sometimes you couldn't tell) but she was sturdy and confident enough to make Annabeth wonder how good of a fighter she was.

"Annabeth?" Percy finally managed to get out.

"Oh, Percy!" she'd never acted like this before but after not seeing her best friend and boyfriend for about eight months full of worry, she was a little unhinged. She let go of his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Jason said you might not have passed the Romans' tests! Did they find out who you were?"

"As soon as he woke up, Lupa told us." the girl replied. Annabeth finally let go of Percy.

"I'm Annabeth Chase." she told the girl. The girl gave a small, guarded smile.

"I know. Nice to meet you, Annabeth. Percy missed you."

Annabeth had to hug him again.

"Percy? You're alive! Hi, big brother!" Tyson bounded up behind Annabeth. She moved out of the way as the big Cyclopes grabbed Percy and spun him around. Annabeth took the moment to glance around at the Roman camp. It was neat, even, clean. It was orderly. But she'd expected that, hadn't she? Romans were organized and warlike. Their camp would reflect that.

She looked down the hill at the purple-shirted people watching her carefully with their weapons drawn. They were slowly making their way up the hill, their eyes never leaving the party, their lips never smiling. Even though one of them looked like he'd just fallen face first into a cake.

"So, you're Greek?" one short boy asked in a deep voice.

"So, you're Roman?" Annabeth replied. The speaker gave a dry smile.

"I'm Dakota, son of Minerva."

"Annabeth," she replied, trying to keep her voice as even as the Romans', "daughter of Athena."

"This is First Legion." She noticed there was no "welcome" anywhere in his tone or words.

"I see." she answered. "Are you friends of Jason?"

"Did you lock him up? I know you did!" the hulk figure of a boy demanded. He was the one who'd taken a dive into a blue cake.

"He's perfectly fine." Annabeth told him, very aware of how big he was.

"Prove it." the boy glowered at her.

"Bobby," the girl who'd been standing with Percy snapped, her voice completely monotone yet extremely dangerous.

"Fine, Gwen." Bobby growled but he sheathed his sword.

"Bianca?" Annabeth spun around at the sound of Nico's voice. She didn't know what would happen. Tyson finally stopped spinning Percy around and around. Annabeth stepped closer to steady him. Nico was frozen, his whole face shocked. "I thought you'd died. I talked to your ghost. I tried to bring you back. What happened to you? Are you a ghost?"

"No. I'm alive." Bianca said in a small voice. "Nico, you got so big."

"But...how...?" Nico choked.

"We don't really know for sure." the girl named Gwen said in a soothing voice, the first break in Roman formality Annabeth had seen so far. "We just know that one girl was taken away and replaced with Bianca. We don't really know who replaced her. We just know for sure that Bianca's here and Ester isn't."

"Who's Ester?" Jason asked, coming up behind Nico with Piper and Leo.

"Jason." Gwen's voice was sharp. Final. Familiar.

"Jason?" the Roman group Annabeth had been talking to moved forward cautiously. Jason scrunched up his face.

"Dakota. Bobby. Hazel. Daisy? Reyna." he called off their names. When their name was called, the Roman relaxed just the slightest bit. It could have been easily missed. But it was there.

"Did they chain you up?" Bobby asked.

"No." Jason answered blankly, "Why would they do that?"

"They're Greeks! They're unpredictable." Bobby stated, glaring at Leo and Piper as if they were going to go crazy and start chopping people up if they weren't watched carefully.

"Some would say Romans were unpredictable." Gwen said in her smooth voice. Bobby turned to glare at her. Gwen didn't flinch which Annabeth found a little surprising since Bobby was huge and towering and built next to her.

"Dude, don't beat up on the chick." Leo said.

"Was I talking to you, Greek?" Bobby went to towering over Leo. Leo _did _look intimidated.

"Bobby, cut it out." Jason ordered. "This is Leo and Piper, a couple friends I made at Camp Half-Blood." The Romans all tensed. Except for Gwen who seemed to be pretty unfazable.

"Lupa's coming." Gwen announced in her lifeless voice. "Greeks, maintain your distance. Romans, stand to! Jason, stay with the Greeks for now." Annabeth let go of Percy's hand and stepped back with Jason, Piper, Leo, Tyson, and Nico. If Lupa was a giant wolf that would eat people, Annabeth didn't want to get on her bad side and get Percy eaten or something.

Then a giant wolf was there.

Annabeth's breath caught in her throat and she was halfway to her knife when she realized how bad an idea it was. She froze and let her arm slowly return to her side. The wolf was white and huge. Her eyes were old and dark, glittering as she watched Annabeth. Slowly, the wolf-didn't Gwen call her Lupa?- began to walk down the hill to Annabeth and her group. Jason stepped forward to greet her. Without thinking, Annabeth took a half step after him, plotting a way to take down Lupa if she got nasty.

"Jason Grace. Son of Jupiter. Welcome home." Lupa said in a smooth voice that seemed to make the insides of Annabeth's bones vibrate. It was a voice that had a bit of a motherly tone to it but definitely one a person wouldn't want to cross. Lupa looked to Annabeth. Annabeth stared back at her with a face she hoped looked pretty fearless.

"Lupa," Gwen said, stepping forward. "Can we offer the Greeks shelter?" Lupa turned slightly.

"Why, Guinevere? Why should we offer these outsiders our hospitality?"

"They come with our brother and friend, Jason." Gwen continued, "They have come to help us with the impending war. They are our family."

Annabeth found herself glancing at Dakota. How could she be related to the expressionless boy? They did have the same blonde hair and eyes but how could they be family? A complete stranger could have the same shade of hair as her but it didn't make the person her family automatically. Annabeth breathed out her nose hard, she was being ridiculous again. Gwen was right. They were family. No matter how distant or close. _They were family. _

"Hm. Should we test them? See if they're worthy to be in our camp?"

The Romans began to chuckle darkly. Gwen, Percy, and Bianca seemed to become more tight-lipped. Annabeth watched Lupa quietly, wondering what she meant by "test". It must have not been good if everyone but three Greek-friendly demigods were laughing.

Gwen stepped a little closer and tried again.

"They're here to help us with the _war." _Gwen prompted. Lupa looked over Annabeth and her group. She seemed to be enjoying deciding whether to test them, kill them, or welcome them. "You owe me." Gwen said. Lupa stopped.

"How true you are, Guinevere. Romans, welcome our allies."

The Romans began to half-heartedly clap, most of them looking disappointed. Annabeth wondered what the test would have insured. Lupa looked over Annabeth's head. Her lip curled.

"You ruined my grass." she said in a cool voice. Lupa turned away and the huge white wolf walked away. Annabeth looked at Gwen. Her eyes narrowed. What could she have over Lupa? Gwen caught her gaze and stared her placidly down.

For a moment, the Romans stared at them openly before they shifted around and turned around to follow Lupa. The group Jason had identified remained along with another girl, watching him worriedly.

"They don't know what to do with you." Percy said, looking at Jason then meeting everyone else's gaze, holding Annabeth's a little longer.

"You sound like an expert." Nico said in a dark voice.

"No expert, but I'm getting the hang of Roman life." Percy shrugged. Then, without really thinking, he put his arm around Gwen's shoulders. It was a casual move that said he'd done it before. It was natural. Annabeth felt her heart begin to shatter. He hadn't remembered her and now he was going out with another girl. A Roman girl. But, he'd remembered her. He'd hugged her. Called her by her name. Looked into her eyes. Yet he had his arm around Gwen.

Her face must have had a betrayed look on it because Percy looked at her and jerked his arm off Gwen. Gwen glanced at him, raising an eyebrow, then glanced back at Annabeth. Annabeth was shooting daggers out of her eyes. She was so mad. Here she'd been, all alone at Camp Half-Blood, worried sick about him, and here he was, completely fine, hugging on some other girl.

"Maybe I should really introduce Gwen," Percy said sheepishly. Annabeth glared at him.

"Yes, introduce us to your new girlfriend." She blinked back angry tears. She wouldn't show how upset she was, especially to the moodless Romans.

"This is Guinevere Jackson, my twin sister."

Annabeth felt her mouth fall open.

_**Chapter II: GUINEVERE: Mixed Messages**_

Annabeth's face went slack with shock.

Gwen had watched her mind whirl when Percy had put his arm around her. She had watched Annabeth's mind go from shock to betrayal to anger.

"Your _sister?" _She had managed to get out.

"SISTER!" The Cyclopes yelled, leaping forward to crush both Percy and Gwen in his arms. She was pretty sure when she got out of his grasp, she was going to have a few cracked ribs.

"Tyson-can't breathe-Ty-" Percy choked. Tyson let them both go. His calf-brown eye twinkled at her. Gwen couldn't help it. She let her mask slip away for a second as she smiled and laughed. Gwen adjusted her face in a moment, cutting her laugh short. Annabeth's gray eyes narrowed slightly but Gwen made sure her face had no signs of emotion.

She might have actually been Greek and the new group might have been friendly, but she still didn't know them. She couldn't trust them, not yet. She had been drilled too many times to open up so quickly. In truth, Gwen had to admit Tyson had already won her heart. Just like Percy had when he'd first been dumped into the hospital tent. There had been something about him that Gwen just couldn't help but love. She had taken it upon herself to nurse him throughout his coma (which they'd found out later was induced by Juno and Cupid). And no one had disagreed. Gwen had felt like she had a friend even though he was unconscious.

And when he woke up, it was like something in her had snapped. She had just puked up emotions like they were going out of style. But she was better. It only took a day or two to get a grip on her pent up emotions. She'd had a brother for a couple months now. It was something that might one day be natural, normal, consistent.

With Percy, life had gotten easier. With Bianca, she had a real friend, someone who was in worse shape with family than her. Jason's friends, those people she'd tried to be friends with for years, began to gravitate towards Percy. Percy was Jason's replacement. He was the placeholder that would nurse their wounds and heartaches. But, by doing so, they'd opened up a little and allowed themselves to look at Gwen. To see her. To actually see she wasn't their best friend's enemy. That she wasn't just the Greek Girl. Life had become bearable, enjoyable, fun. Fun at a Roman camp. Fun was a word only children of Mars used to describe First Legion and it's hard training and fighting.

But here were the Greeks. His people. Her should-be people. Here they were with Jason, First Legion's lost leader. Here they were to give Jason back and take Percy. Here they were to take her brother and best friend and disappear. Here they were to ride off into the sunset and leave her alone.

Would Jason's friends still talk to her? Probably not. Things would go back to normal. She would be the Greek Girl. The demigod who belonged in both camps and neither at the same time. Bianca would still talk to her, but she would go back to everyone avoiding her. Would Reyna still be her friend? Was their friendship hanging loosely on Percy and Gwen's air of peace and family? Daisy would loose her confidence, for sure.

Percy made the Romans open up. It was like there was just enough Greek to clue the Romans in to new ideas but not enough to wig them out. Balance.

Gwen looked at the Greeks and their Roman leader. She could feel Percy by her side: the Romans' Greek leader. There was a tension between everyone: except Tyson who was ready to give Percy and Gwen another hug as soon as they stopped holding their ribs. No one was sure what to do. Gwen didn't know if she wanted to do anything. Did she want to promote them? Invite them into the Roman camp so they could take her brother? But they were family. They were here to help. They had brought Jason. They were eager to see Percy. They were eager to learn. She had to be bigger and not let feelings get in the way. Because, if the Romans had taught her anything, it was that listening to strong emotions messed things up. Gwen might disagree to how much emotion could be shown but she agreed that greedy thoughts would lead to destruction.

She was seventeen.

She was going to do things right.

"Welcome," Gwen said, trying to keep her voice as smooth as possible. Annabeth's eyes narrowed again at her. Gwen knew she was trying to detect emotion in her voice. She knew the daughter of Athena was getting nowhere. "This is First Legion. Why don't we settle you in and give you a tour tomorrow. If you're helping with the war, you'll need to know where things are around here." Gwen offered them a tight-lipped beginning of a smile.

"That would be great, thanks." one boy said, patting the bronze boat fondly. "We could sleep with Festus, he wouldn't mind-" as if the bronze dragon head locked on the front of the boat was listening, it tilted it's head slightly and leaked a good amount of black oil all over the boy. Gwen smiled a little wider at the dragon head. It's red eyes blinked at her.

"Maybe we should do introductions before that." Nico, Bianca's brother, Gwen had figured out, finally tore his eyes away from Bianca to look at Gwen. She felt herself stiffen. Not because she was afraid. Though his piercing black eyes could strike fear into the hearts of some people. But the eyes of Pluto and Hades's children never scared her.

What made her stiffen was how his black eyes seemed to look right through her. Bianca's did that also but not to the extent of Nico's. It was like he was looking at her soul. Reading past her Roman mask and seeing her. Almost like it felt when she and Percy used telepathy to communicate. But different. Gwen could let Percy see what she wanted him to see and hear. It was always in her control. Nico saw everything.

Nico's eyes took in her tense posture and he looked away. He had misread her body language.

"I'm Nico di Angelo." he told her. He was tall, just a little taller than Gwen but just a little shorter than Percy. His hair was long and black. His skin was olive complected. He had on a black shirt with orange letters that read "Camp Half-Blood" and a black skull hoodie. The grass where he was standing was beginning to slowly wilt.

"Annabeth told you her name." he continued on in his deep voice. Annabeth nodded her head. The perfect California girl with tanned skin and blonde hair curled like a princess was corrupted by her strong, unwavering steel gray eyes. A New York Yankees cap peeked out of her back jeans pocket.

"I'm Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite." The other girl stepped forward. She was beautiful. Her brown hair was short and choppy with thin braids through it. Her eyes danced from brown to green to blue. She adjusted her ski jacket. Her orange shirt peeked out from under it.

Gwen's eyes flashed to the distance between Piper and Jason. She didn't know why it had caught her attention. Maybe it was Piper stood just a little close. Maybe it was the way she stood next to Jason. Maybe it was something Gwen just felt. Whatever it was, Gwen had a feeling Jason and Piper had a thing. As in "I like you". Her eyes flicked to Reyna. The long haired daughter of Apollo was watching the space between them closely also. Gwen decided she'd keep an eye on the daughter of Aphrodite in case Reyna wanted to take a poke at her.

Jason's sky blue eyes caught Gwen's. She glared at him. He seemed clueless for a moment before his eyes flicked to Reyna and returned to Gwen. He looked guilty. His shortly cut gold hair shone in the fading light. The little crescent scar above his upper lip twisted as his mouth frowned. The action surprised Gwen. She'd thought he'd worn his Roman mask long enough that it was just a natural reflex to wear it. Gwen wondered if all the time she'd hidden behind her own mask but wished to show something was just a mental thing. Was it possible that since Jason had lost his memory-and didn't seem to have it back-he'd forgotten about the fierce determination of Romans and emotions?

"I'm Leo Valdez, the hot one." the boy covered in Festus's ear oil stepped forward, grinning. He was wiping his face and hands off with an extra shirt. Gwen had gotten a good look at him before he'd had an oily shower. He was average height and thin with extra long fingers that were twirling or linking or doing something constantly. He had a grin that made Gwen think of Lynn: ornery, up to no good. He had curly black hair and tanned skin. "Son of Hephaestus at your service." he gave a comical bow.

"Yes, you do get into your work." Gwen commented. Leo didn't seem to notice. He was making goo-goo eyes at her. "Our turn, I suppose. That's Bobby Martin, son of Mars." Bobby, in his hulk-like glory, flexed his muscles and shifted so that his long braided rat tail swung around hit Dakota in the face. Romans had no problem showing off. Gwen suppressed rolling her eyes. "Dakota Wolter, son of Minerva." Dakota tapped the side of his head, watching Annabeth, challenging her. "Daisy Dukes, daughter of Venus." Daisy beamed a smile Piper's way, adjusting her large round glasses. Piper returned it a little hesitantly. "Hazel Gustine, daughter of Ceres." Hazel started at the Greeks. After a moment, she upturned the corners of her lips like "There" but still managed to grimace. Know the term "Happy as a sunflower"? Doesn't apply to Hazel. "Lynn Roberts, daughter of Mercury." Lynn gave a cocky smile only children of Mercury could manage to break through the Roman mask without really giving anything away. Usually people checked their pockets for firecrackers and the like though. "Reyna Timbers, daughter of Apollo." Reyna plucked her bow string.

Its twang hung in the air.

"Let's get you to your cabins." Gwen muttered, turning around.

"You're going to let them sleep with us?" Dakota's nose scrunched up before he could control it.

"Yes. Do you have a problem with that?" Gwen answered smoothly, not feeling smooth at all. She hated going head to head with Minerva's children. But, being a daughter of Neptune (actually Poseidon), Minerva's kids picked fights with her. Mentally. They knew Gwen would whip them physically.

"Who doesn't?" Reyna's lip curled as she glared at Piper.

"Just _look _at them." Hazel put in, with a very obvious nod Leo's way. Leo began to scrub his face harder. The oil just rubbed into his skin deeper.

"Okay," Gwen turned to face the Romans. She knew she would come to a head with every single camper-besides Bianca and Daisy and Percy-so she might as well start now. Nip it in the bud. The Romans leaned away slightly, wondering what Gwen would do. "Anyone who has a problem with it can fight me. If you win, they can sleep with their dragon boat. If I win, I cut something valuable off the loser." the Romans took a step away from her, Dakota and Bobby took the biggest. They knew she wasn't bluffing even though she was half-bluffing. She was considering bluffing. Percy chuckled behind her.

"Is she that good?" Annabeth asked, looking Gwen up and down, evaluating, trying to find a flaw that she could use to her advantage.

"She's the best fighter here." Jason said suddenly. His face looked faraway as if he was somewhere else. He was trying to remember. Gwen wondered what Juno had done to Jason to make him have such a hard time remembering. "Are you my friend?" he looked at her, squinting.

"No." Gwen answered sharply. "Let's go, Greeks, you've missed dinner."

She turned on her heel sharply.

A little piece in her heart was aching. The little piece that belonged to Jason. As a friend. She didn't like him romantically. But her heart still burned.

_**Chapter III: PIPER: Is It Fair?**_

The only nice person at First Legion was Daisy and maybe Gwen. Piper wasn't really sure though. Percy didn't count because he'd hardly said a word and he was Greek. Gwen had possibilities but if she was dangerous enough to shut six Romans up all at once...and her voice had been so hard, so cruel when she'd told Jason they weren't friends. Piper wondered if she was an old girlfriend. But her voice had hinted something deeper than an old heartbreak.

Piper didn't understand how the Romans managed to stay so cool and controlled. She could hear them laughing at her. She knew they were behind their Roman masks. But hadn't Jason said something about how the Roman camp would be different from Camp Half-Blood? Hadn't he said that Romans value war above all else and Greeks loved their family? She could believe it.

When Gwen had walked them down the hill, Piper had taken in the camp all at once. She had followed silently, trying to absorb everything and process it. It felt like she was back on her first day at Camp Half-Blood. She remembered her surprise when Annabeth was trying to find her a weapon and had looked through a garden shed. Now the knife of Helen of Troy was strapped to her leg. It was a regular friend now.

"You can sleep under me, Piper. Over here!" Daisy whispered. Piper shook her head, getting out of her thoughts. It was dark in the Venus cabin. She picked her way through, conscious of where the foggy outline of the beds were. She half expected a pair of stilettos to be in her way but the Romans were neat and organized. Every cabin looked the same. They had a few different colors and the Mars cabin had some neat barbed wire and the Venus smelled like dozens of different perfumes. Nothing was out of place in the whole camp though. Not even a blade of grass dared be a millimeter longer than the others.

"Thanks." Piper said when she got to where Daisy was. Daisy smiled at her.

"No problem." Daisy whispered back, scurrying up the ladder to her bed.

"If you don't mind me saying," Piper started, she paused, waiting for Daisy to object or agree. Silence greeted Piper. She took it as a "go ahead" so she continued, "You don't really seem like the other Romans."

Piper folded back the crisp pink sheets and got into bed. She was borrowing a pair of pajamas from Daisy since Leo had found her pajamas and used them as an oil rag. They weren't modest in the leg area.

"I don't mind." Daisy said, hanging her head over the edge of her bed. "It's simple, really. I don't go to First Legion much. My parents are both demigods but my scent isn't as strong as theirs. The monsters don't come after me as much. I don't need as much training. I don't come here as much. I don't have the same Roman mask you find everywhere."

"Your parents are both demigods?" Piper asked.

"Yeah, son of Venus and daughter of Minerva."

"How'd that happen?" Piper laughed quietly, having trouble thinking of an airhead and a brainiac together.

"Party."

"How come you're in the Venus cabin? Did you get a choice?" Piper wondered which cabin she'd want to be in if she was given a chance. She wasn't sure about all the maps she'd seen hanging in the Athena cabin but it had to be better than suffocation by lavender perfume.

"Daughters go to the fathers' cabin, sons go to the mothers'." Daisy answered, her voice beginning to slip into the normal Roman monotone.

"Why's that?" Piper pulled the sheets up to her nose, muffling her voice.

"Daughters are usually like their fathers and sons are usually like their mothers." Daisy pulled her head back into her bunk so Piper couldn't see it anymore. Piper frowned up at the bottom of Daisy's bunk.

"But what about sons who are like their fathers or girls like their mothers? What do they do?"

"Usually demigod parents have more in common, so it's easier for the child. But other times they just have to deal with it." Daisy's cheerful voice was gone. Replaced with the stiff Roman tone. It gave Piper chill bumps.

"Are your parents together?" Piper found herself asking.

"No. They could hardly stand each other to begin with." Daisy gave a quiet sigh.

"Do you like being in the Venus cabin?" Piper tried to steer in a little bit of a different direction.

"No." Daisy answered flatly.

"Would you want to be in the Athena cabin?"

"Minerva, and I don't know. I'm an outcast either way." Daisy's head came back over the edge. Her blonde bob looked kind of funny upside down. Piper watched her face work to take on a more cheerful look, "You don't like being a child of Venus, do you?"

"What do you mean?" Piper didn't want to look at her now.

"You try your best to look like you don't care. You have the style you like, but it's still like you're running away. You might like it, but you started wearing it because you didn't want to be pretty. Right?"

"I'm better now." Piper looked back at Daisy. Her glasses were dangling off one ear. "I was pretty horrified when I was claimed. I guess I'm okay with it. I would have liked something a little less...well..."

"Airhead?" Daisy suggested.

"Yeah. My cabin is a pretty good bunch. They got better after we dumped Drew out of the 'in charge' position."

Daisy didn't ask who Drew was. She'd fallen asleep, hanging upside down. Her glasses finally slipped off her ear and clattered to the floor. Piper pulled her sheets off and picked them up. She paused, letting the faint light from the pink curtained window bounce off the lenses. She turned them over a couple times in her hand.

Was she still running away from her heritage? Did it really show?

Piper had thought she'd embraced the fact she was a daughter of Aphrodite a little more since she'd spent about eight months with her brothers and sisters. She'd tried to teach some of them how to fight a little. She wasn't very good herself and most of them dropped the sword or bow with the tell-tale Barbie cry of "my nail!" A couple of her siblings had tried though and had discovered a little bit of hidden talent they didn't know they had.

But was she still running away?

Piper sighed and folded up Daisy's glasses.

When people heard "Aphrodite" or "Venus" they just thought airhead, Barbie doll, Little Miss Perfect. Piper had to change that image. Sure, the biggest thing in her cabin was what top you wore with what shoes but there had to be more to her mother than that. She was a Roman goddess too, right? Romans were more warlike, right? Her mother had to have fought a little, right? So, where was that fight in the Greek children? Why was it so few?

Piper leaned over and set Daisy's glasses on the nightstand.

She would change people's image of her family.

She would get her siblings to understand that their biggest goal in life wasn't manicures or make-up.

She would get them to think deeper if she had to hold her knife to their throat and drag them through muddy worms.

She would do it.

_**Chapter IV: ANNABETH: Family Spats **_

Romans were strict.

Romans were tough.

Romans were stupid.

That was the conclusion Annabeth had come to at the end of the first day of Roman training.

Annabeth opened her eyes.

It took her less than a second to figure out she wasn't in her bed. Her mind began to whirl at a thousand miles per second before the events of the previous day came back to her. She wondered how many times she would wake up like that. She wondered how long she would stay at First Legion.

She rubbed her eyes and sat up, promptly hitting her head on the bunk above her.

"Ouch." she grumbled, irritated. One of her Roman siblings muttered "Shut up, Greek." Annabeth ignored them and looked around the room. She glared at it. Sure, it was nice to have things organized (it was really good when you had a project) but this was just ridiculous.

The whole cabin was white and gray. It felt sterile. Unlived in. Then all the maps were hung in polished picture frames (gray, one inch all the way around) and situated according to size and date. Little ones on top. Big ones on bottom. Medium ones in the middle.

No notes, anywhere. Filing cabinets covered one whole wall where the bunks weren't. They were labeled by map and filed by name. Colored pencils, pencils, pens, notebook paper, printer paper, sticky notes, paper clips, staplers, erasers, and everything else in the entire world were in shelves, distinctly labeled. Nothing was allowed on the table. It was disgusting.

How could a person brainstorm? This was the worst atmosphere she'd ever gotten into. It didn't help every time she took a breath someone sniffed or glared at her like she was ruining the air. The worst part was, they were her siblings. Her half brothers and sisters. That's sibling love for you.

Annabeth stood up to glare easier at the white walls that would have looked at home in a crazy asylum. It felt like she was in a loony bin though. All that was missing was the plush edges and the "don't run with scissors" sign on the wall reserved for pre-schoolers and Kindergardeners.

Annabeth yawned and scratched her head.

"Do you mind?" someone hissed. Annabeth turned around. Dakota was getting out of bed, watching her coolly.

"And what do you mean?" Annabeth answered, putting her hands on her hips. She wasn't going to try to match Dakota's expert mask. She knew it was futile. She did know how to stay rather cool-headed and glare, though.

"You're spreading your dead skin cells into the air." Dakota explained. Annabeth glared down her nose at him. Dakota was a under five feet but his voice was really deep. She supposed it was better than the other way around.

"You're just ridiculous." Annabeth snapped, "You're like a little boy and cooties. You're afraid of Greek germs." She began to scratch her hair with a vengeance. She pulled out a couple strands and threw them in Dakota's face. "Greek germs. Yes, you'll die won't you!"

The rest of the Minerva cabin was up, watching their fight from their bunk beds. The cabin was deathly silent for a few minutes. They dragged on.

"Greeks are impulsive." Dakota finally said.

"Well, do you know what Romans are?" Annabeth leaned over Dakota. He didn't move back or flinch. Her golden hair was still clinging to his nose. Annabeth caught the flash of emotion in his eyes before he managed to hide it. She wondered what it was. She hadn't seen it long enough to decipher it.

"What are Romans?" Dakota asked coolly, "Remember though, dear sister," he answered in a slightly mocking tone, "you're surrounded by a whole cabin of Romans so you better choose your words wisely."

"Romans are shells of people. Heartless, mindless shells."

"Like I said, Greeks are impulsive." Dakota gave her a tight lipped smile. "It's sad to know our mother's Greek kids are as stupid and impulsive as every other Greek." Annabeth felt her jaw tighten.

"I'd rather be an impulsive Greek than a Roman shell. Because it shows that I have feelings and independent thoughts." Annabeth mirrored his smile, "Unlike my Roman siblings who can't see past 'that's the wrong shade of red on the map'. You're pathetic." she brushed past Dakota. She grabbed her knife out of her borrowed bunk bed and walked out of Minerva's cabin.

_**Chapter V: GUINEVERE: Annabeth Gets Schooled**_

Gwen didn't want the Greeks to take her brother. She had been up all night, sitting in the grass next to the smoldering fire pit, thinking. She was in a constant struggle between what was right and what she felt and wanted. Emotions were trouble. She sighed when the red and pink lights of the sunrise began to dance across the grass.

Gwen stretched and unfolded her legs from under her. She opened her eyes and watched Annabeth stomp out of Minerva's cabin, holding a knife rather threateningly. Annabeth's eyes caught Gwen's and she stomped over to where Gwen was, brushing off her legs and shorts.

"What's wrong with this place?" Annabeth demanded. Gwen glanced down at the knife she was squeezing like a worry ball or something. Annabeth followed her gaze. "Sorry," she muttered, sitting down in the perfect, straight edge grass. Gwen sat back down.

"What do you mean?" she already knew what Annabeth meant. She just wanted to hear her say it. She wanted to keep up the illusion, for just a little longer, that she was Roman.

Instead of answering right away, Annabeth stared at the crisp green grass. She ran her fingers over the top of the blades. She sighed and plucked one.

"This." she held up the blade. It was one and a half inches long. That's how every blade was in the whole camp. Once Gwen had gotten bored enough to take a ruler and start measuring different patches. "Everything is perfect. Everything is organized. There's no life here."

"So organization is bad, Minerva-I mean, Athena-girl?" Gwen asked quietly, running both her hands over the sharp blades.

"Organization is good. But that's all that matters here. The only life here is in the training. And even then it's really bad to show too much fire. You Romans are empty. You can't show emotion. You have no life."

"We hide our feelings. Just because we do that doesn't mean we can't feel things. Some people believe that if a person hides behind a mask or a shell, they're actually afraid. They're afraid to take the chance. They're afraid to see. They're afraid to open up and trust. Don't Romans qualify for that explanation?"

"You train for it." Annabeth uprooted a handful of grass.

"Supposedly," Gwen plucked a blade, "we have our little 'shell' or 'mask' so that our enemies don't know that we're afraid. That we're angry. That they're getting to us. It's supposed to make us intimidating. But, we're still people. We still have the same thoughts and feelings. We have to get them out somehow. Or we might explode." she ripped the blade in half and let it fall through the air.

"Romans have to be creative with how they get their feelings out. Some just puke them out when it gets to be too much. Most expel it through fighting. Training is our life, Annabeth. We can only show so much through it, though. We're careful and guarded even while trying to get the pressure off our Feel-o-Meters."

She stood up and offered Annabeth her hands.

"So, what's it going to be? Are you going to see through our masks and shells? Are you going to give us a chance?"

Annabeth took Gwen's hands and stood up, stooping to pick up her knife. She fingered the edge lightly as her mind whirled with Gwen's words. The light from the rising sun caught the gray in her eyes and danced with rainbow colors and gray. She looked up to Gwen's green eyes.

"How long have you been here, Gwen?"

"Seventeen years yesterday." Gwen answered.

"That's a really long time."

"You're right." Gwen told her, her voice slipping back into Roman formality. Annabeth was tip-toeing on dangerous, deep territory that Gwen wasn't ready to share yet. "Well, go get dressed, breakfast will be announced any minute. If you're late, you're screwed. Training is right after breakfast. Bring your knife."

Gwen turned away.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter VI: PIPER: This**_

Someone was shaking her awake.

"Get up! Get dressed! Hurry! Grab your sword and shield! Hurry, hurry!"

"What?" Piper peeked her eyes open. Someone continued to shake her.

"You'll be in so much trouble if you don't get up! HURRY!"

Piper opened her eyes all the way and jumped out of bed. Maybe Festus had puked fire to something or someone again. Maybe the Stoll brothers had committed some gone-wrong prank. Then she realized she wasn't in the Aphrodite cabin. It was the Venus cabin in First Legion.

Piper focused on the person who'd woken her up.

"GET DRESSED!" Daisy squealed, throwing random clothing at her. Piper didn't know what was happening or why Daisy was freaking out on her. But she obeyed and dressed as fast as she could.

"What's happening? Where's the other Aphro-Venus campers? What's wrong?" Piper yelled while she and Daisy ran across the perfect grass towards the pavilion. She had just grabbed the first things in her bag which was a Camp Half-Blood T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Katoptris, her knife, was strapped to her belt.

"In Roman camp," Daisy yelled back at her as they ran, "it's every man for himself. The breakfast horn blew already and if we're not in there by the time it blows again, we are in _so_ much trouble." She grabbed Piper's hand and Piper ran faster to attempt to not fall on her face.

The horn sounded when Piper seized a plate. She jumped sky high. The Apollo cabin snickered. She ignored them.

"We serve ourselves?" she asked Daisy. Daisy tossed a look over her shoulder. It took Piper a second to realize how little-rich-brat the comment had sounded. She turned red. "Oh, gods, that's not-that didn't-I didn't mean it like that." she put a couple pieces of pizza on her plate, "It's just that, at Camp Half-Blood, the nymphs serve you and then you go and give a portion of food to the gods." Piper picked up a cup.

"We deal with it here. We carry our own weight." Daisy smiled at Piper, "But of course we still sacrifice to the gods."

"You don't use live animals, do you?" Piper stopped dead, thinking about watching Bobby the Hulk or a stony faced Gwen slicing open a chicken. She had no wish to watch a chicken's guts fall out of it.

"I think we used to." Daisy said, "But I think someone finally got tired of getting all bloody right before they ate. Besides, it was killing a lot a animals. Three meals a day. Three sacrifices a day." Daisy waved Piper to follow her.

There was a wide Roman column right in the middle of the pavilion. There was a neat, squared hole in it. A small fire danced in view.

"Do we have to stick our hand in it? Cut a piece of our hair?" Piper asked. Daisy laughed, covering her mouth quickly to muffle it into a cough.

"I'm sure it wouldn't ruin your hair style either way." Daisy gave her a guarded smile, something Piper hoped she wouldn't get used to. She turned away from Piper and shifted some of her food off her plate and into the fire. Just like Camp Half-Blood.

Piper sighed in relief.

Daisy gave a low giggle only Piper could hear.

"Let's get to the table quick, Lupa will probably want to talk more about you Greeks." Daisy told Piper under her breath. Piper nodded in agreement and shoved her bigger slice of pizza into the fire. She caught a whiff of the smoke. If that's what it could be called. It was godly smoke. Every piece of food everyone had sacrificed smelled ten times better in the fire and the funny thing was, all the scents mixed just fine, which shouldn't have been right.

But being a demigod never really followed any guidelines about what "should" happen in the world. When the world was hinged on the mood of a bunch of really old, all powerful beings that got pretty moody over the stupid things, guidelines were a laughing thing to all demigods. That's one thing Piper hoped the Greeks and Romans could agree on.

She sat down at the Venus table and earned a bunch of award-winning death glares from all her siblings. She held their gaze.

"I'm not afraid of you." She told them, biting into her pizza. "And I have no problem with showing you."

They glared at her once more before returning to their fruit salads.

Piper let out the breath she'd been holding through her nose slowly so it wasn't obvious. Daisy gave her a small smile. Piper glanced down at the perfect way her siblings were eating their perfect little fruit salads. She thought back to her own cabin. She had a feeling that Venus campers would be harder to intimidate than her Aphrodite siblings.

Venus was the war-part of Aphrodite.

But they were still part of Aphrodite.

Piper looked around the pavilion. Annabeth was slowly eating a bowl of cereal while the rest of her cabin tried to put plenty of space between her and themselves. Sometimes Annabeth would sweep her hair back and shake her loose pieces of hair at them. They would lean back, a slight look of disgust on their faces before they could conceal it.

Tyson was thoroughly enjoying sitting with Gwen and Percy. He would pound Percy on the back occasionally (plummeting him into his food) and smile at Gwen. He seemed to be animatedly telling them a story something about a sword and peanut butter.

Leo looked very lost and pretty lonely. His siblings were giving him the silent treatment no matter how much he tried to smile at them or joke or show them his cool creations. They simply wouldn't give them the time of day. Bobby was flicking grapes and chicken bones at the back of his head. Leo was looking more and more annoyed. Piper wondered when he'd explode in a column of fiery Leo. She wished the Romans would let the Greeks sit together.

Maybe this was like one of the tests Lupa was talking about. No, Gwen had talked her out of it. Maybe it was a quiz. A mini test. See how long it would take until the emotional Greeks broke. Piper had a dark feeling the Romans would get a good laugh very soon.

Jason was looking very lonely at his table.

Nico seemed to be doing okay. He was quietly talking to his sister Bianca who apparently had died a few years ago.

"I thought Bianca was _dead." _Piper whispered to Daisy. Daisy glanced over her shoulder quickly to look at Bianca and Nico.

"She was." Daisy said in a voice so low Piper had to lean forward to hear her. "She came not long after Percy woke up. It was an exchange."

"An exchange?" Piper leaned forward even more. "What kind of exchange?"

"A life for a life."

"Someone died for Bianca to be here?" Piper whispered, her voice sharp.

"The gods took Esther because she was too powerful, too corrupt. They took her but had to put a placeholder. They had to choose a demigod that was close enough to Esther's power but who's soul was freshest. Bianca was the ideal candidate. They latched her onto Gwen. That's the story, anyway. Romans are pretty good about fact and fiction."

"What do you mean 'latched her onto Gwen'?" Piper realized she'd leaned forward onto her pizza. She straightened up a little then decided she would rather hear the story and leaned back onto it.

"Bianca had been dead for a few years, so Gwen told me. Her soul hadn't lived for a while. It needed life support, you might say." Piper felt her fingers tingle. She hoped Daisy wouldn't say what Piper was afraid she would say, but she did. "Gwen's soul got sucked of energy while Bianca was latched to it."

"Is she still eating Gwen's soul?" Piper looked back at Gwen who looked pretty calm and smiley. Smiley for a Roman anyway.

"No, Bianca stabilized about a week after the quest." Daisy chewed her food thoughtfully. "I believe that the gods will take Bianca back. You know, return things to how they're supposed to be. Bianca's not supposed to be alive. Esther wasn't supposed to be that powerful and corrupt for a demigod." Piper shifted uncomfortably and decided to change the subject. She wondered what the dreary Nico would do if he lost his sister again.

"Is Gwen nice?" Piper asked in a normal voice, sitting up to try to rescue her shirt from her pizza's cheesy clutches.

"To her friends." Daisy smiled at Piper, "If you're in a fight, you want Gwen on your side. She's the best fighter we have and one of the most hard-headed. She smooths things down for everyone. She creates a balance but she is definitely determined to go with her own flow. Even though no one will probably admit it, we need Gwen. She's way too Greek but she's a thing we need. Our camp will fight to the death to keep you from taking her back."

"Why would we take a Roman away?" Piper asked.

"Because she's really a Greek."

Piper felt a shiver down her back.

"What do you mean by that?"

_**Chapter VII: GUINEVERE: To Be Eaten Or Not To Be Eaten**_

Gwen wasn't very hungry but Tyson was insistent that she eat. She had reserved herself to nibbling on a piece of toast. As Gwen had suspected, all the Greeks were being treated as outcasts. Nico was doing pretty fine at his table and no one would say "boo" to Tyson if they knew what was good for them, but Annabeth might as well have had leprosy, Daisy was the only one who would get within a yard of Piper, and Bobby was being such a jerk to Leo, Gwen was about to jump up and shove her swords down his throat.

The thought was rather entertaining.

"Are you listening, Gwen?" Percy snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Huh?-oh, yeah!-of course-what?" Gwen looked apologetically at Tyson. He looked rather delighted to repeat his story and launched back into his story about peanut butter and Daddy's palace.

Percy laughed quietly and glanced around at all the Greeks.

_Jason looks lonely. _he said in her head. She continued to nod enthusiastically at Tyson while she stole a glance Jason's way. He looked sad. It made Gwen's heart ache to watch her ex-best friend hurt. She sighed and looked away from him. He was the only camper who was alone at his table. The only one. Before it was both of them that were alone. Now it was just him.

"...And that's how I got my war cry!" Tyson finished up happily. Gwen zeroed back in on her other brother. She smiled at him.

"That's so cool, Tyson. Hey, why didn't Grover come with you guys?"

Percy perked up. They both gave Tyson their undivided attention.

"Goat boy had to stay at Camp Half-Blood. Chiron wanted to know what he knew. Grover wanted to try to work on his Wildlife pro-ject. And only so many people could come on the trip because of ship's capacity and weight limit." Tyson blushed at this point. Gwen and Percy's eyes met.

_In other words, _Gwen thought to him, _Tyson weighed enough for a few people and Grover was second choice. _

Then the whole hall broke into silence.

Gwen's eyes jerked up to search for the reason.

_Lupa. _Percy told her.

Every Roman straightened even more. The Greeks were looking around, puzzled, Jason included. Then Lupa stepped into view. How a snow white monster wolf could slip around through shadows undetected was truly a mystery to Gwen.

"Romans, guests, I trust you slept well?" Lupa asked in her smooth voice. Gwen curled her hands into fists in her lap. She was still mad about the fact she was really Greek.

All the Romans nodded sharply and in illusion. The Greeks tried to follow their example. Lupa's lip curled. She was laughing at their disorganization. It made Gwen even angrier. It probably shouldn't have but it did.

"While you are at our camp, I want you to remember, Greeks, that you are not one of us. You are Greek. You are not like us at all."

_Superior much? _Gwen thought to Percy who gave her a small head bob of agreement.

"Normally, we would have exchanged leaders and you would have been on your untidy way, but, given the circumstances..." Lupa's sharp black eyes locked onto Gwen's. What she meant was "Because the twins of Poseidon are so stubborn and I owe the girl I kidnapped..." "You will be allowed to remain here for a little bit. I refuse to allow anymore Greeks into my camp. We will not be influenced by your lax ways. We will remain strong and beautiful."

Gwen glanced over at Leo and the pile of chicken bones and grapes around him. Yeah, that's beautiful and strong and dignified.

"Of course, if you are to help us in the war effort, you will need to be properly trained."

"Are you going to train us?" Annabeth asked.

Gwen felt her stomach drop.

"What, Greek?" Lupa padded over to the Minerva cabin. Every eye was on Annabeth and Lupa. Annabeth, to her credit, was looking pretty calm but she'd apparently realized she'd committed a big "no-no" by speaking.

"I asked if you were going to train us." she repeated.

Gwen's heartbeat was in her throat. She didn't want Lupa to devour Annabeth. That would be a very dangerous move. Of course, Lupa knew Annabeth was strong ties to everyone. If she ate Annabeth, it would be to see what the Greeks did. Percy would definitely fight for revenge. Gwen wouldn't lead the charge, though. She already was beginning to like the opinionated daughter of Athena.

"No." Lupa said, "I will not be."

Gwen could tell by her voice that she'd decided to not eat Annabeth. Not even Lupa, as old and practiced as she was, could keep every emotion or tone out of her voice. Gwen had been with her for seventeen years, she'd seen plenty of almost eatings and many more eatings.

_It's okay. _She said to Percy in her head. His shoulders slightly relaxed.

"Our schedules will be mucked up by your presence but war always has that effect, not to the level you manage, but it does present a little bit of schedule shifting. So, for as long as you are here, you will be trained by our best warrior." Bobby seemed to puff up, "Guinevere, daughter of Neptune."

Bobby shot her a death glare but Gwen knew it was coming.

Everyone turned to look at her. As if she was that interesting. They wouldn't blink an eye if she died on a quest. They'd probably be relieved.

"Breakfast is over." Lupa announced, "Leave for training."

Everyone was on their feet in an instant.

Leo tripped and fell over a chicken bone.

_**Chapter VIII: ANNABETH: Practice**_

Annabeth knew it would be no easy ride when she saw the set of Gwen's jaw. She knew the Romans would be something to behold in training, but when training started, she'd never imagined it would be like it was.

"Greeks!" Gwen yelled over her shoulder in a firm voice. "Bianca, you can be a Greek for today!" Annabeth watched Gwen's face carefully but no emotion was allowed through. It was like she'd gone into a whole new mode of Roman. "Jason, you train with me. Get over here! Tyson, go help Vulcan's cabin in the war preparation. Move it, people!"

Annabeth caught up with Gwen but when she tried to smile, she was stopped by the cold steel in Gwen's green eyes. It stopped Annabeth dead in her tracks. Percy wrapped an arm around her waist and led her forward. He glared at the back of Gwen's head as if he could chew her out mentally. Whether he could or not, Gwen didn't respond.

Gwen stopped when they came to the field. Annabeth could see Fetus the boat not far away. Gwen spun around to look at them. Her face was not unlike the face of a Drill Sergent's. Annabeth found herself trying to calculate how fast Gwen could probably move and how fast Annabeth could grab her knife and defend herself.

"So," Leo started, Gwen's eyes flashed to him, "Are we just gonna like fight and you're going to decide what level we're on or are we going to start at level one...?" he faltered when he met Gwen's killer gaze.

"Pull out your weapons." Gwen ordered. Annabeth jerked out her knife in such a way that Gwen's eyes met her's. She hesitated, her courage and ability seeming to diminish under Gwen's eyes.

"Jason, what happened to your sword?"

"Broke." Jason held up his gladius. Hera had supplied Jason with the gladius when his magic imperial gold coin sword-slash-spear broke when he was fighting a giant on the quest to save the trapped goddess.

"Bianca, Annabeth, Piper." Gwen pointed to a spot in the grass. "Jason, Nico, Percy." she pointed to another spot. "No. Leo, trade with Percy. Percy, with me. Piper and Leo, together." Annabeth was startled how Gwen's voice sounded. It was so in control. So in command. So confident.

"Now what?" Leo asked, looking at Piper and her knife a little worriedly.

"We fight." Bianca said matter-of-factly.

Everyone looked at Gwen to see if she would contradict Bianca's words. Annabeth glanced at Bianca. Annabeth was fair with her knife but Bianca had been dead for a while, she couldn't be very good with her knife yet.

"Here's the thing, we're going to fight." Gwen met each person's eyes, "And, you're going to fight hard. I don't care if you know you can beat your opponent. I don't care if you know you can't. You're going to fight as hard as you can. Otherwise, I'll know, and then, you'll be _very _sorry." Annabeth wondered if there was a secret Roman torture chamber somewhere in First Legion. By the dangerous look on Gwen's face, Annabeth didn't doubt it. "And here's some good encouragement, loser stays here and misses lunch. And you'll want lunch after this is over because there are NO breaks."

"So, we're just fighting?" Leo asked, looking nervous. Gwen raised an eyebrow. She brushed her black bangs behind her ear.

"Would you like Percy and I to demonstrate?" she asked him.

"It would be nice to see if you are better than Percy. Percy's one of the best at Camp Half-Blood." Annabeth told Gwen. For a moment, Gwen smirked a playful smile and her eyes twinkled. For a moment, Annabeth was looking past Gwen's General mask. Then the moment ended.

Percy uncapped Riptide and pulled out Tyson's shield. Annabeth cocked her head. Percy rarely used his shield.

Gwen flicked her wrists and brought her wrists together at the same time. As two long bronze swords grew out of the rings on her fingers, they screeched against each other. Leo took a step back. Annabeth felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Nico swallowed hard.

Gwen looked positively murderous.

"Gwen," Percy said in a warning tone, "I thought we agreed you wouldn't do that during training."

"What's life without a little intimidation?" Gwen asked, a smile curling the tips of her lips.

Then they lunged together.

Annabeth froze.

They moved so fast she could hardly keep up. It was almost like they'd rehearsed the fight. Step by step. They moved like they were in a crazy, deadly dance. Never breaking eye contact. Never making a mistake. Never loosing the beat to their insane ballet.

Then Percy took a step about an inch too long. Gwen defected it but Percy had put too much force into his jab. His sword went about an inch into her arm. Gwen didn't seem bothered, though. She brought one sword down on Percy's sword arm and jammed the flat of her other sword into his face.

Percy hit his back.

Gwen slashed and Riptide went flying.

Percy tried to knock her legs out from under her with his shield but she avoided it easily and put her sword to his throat, stepping on his shield arm, and placing her other sword on his other arm.

"Do you know what you did wrong, brother dear?" Gwen asked sweetly. She jumped off of him and glared at everyone else. Annabeth knew exactly why she was the best fighter now. "Okay, everyone, FIGHT!" she ordered.

Annabeth was suddenly locked in a vicious battle of knives with Bianca who'd gotten incredible. Annabeth could only defend herself as best she could against Bianca's well-placed, lightning-quick attacks. Little scratches quickly decorated her arms where her defense had failed.

Bianca's eyes were intense, only intent on one thing: victory.

"You've been training with Gwen, haven't you?" Annabeth asked as she tried to deflect and Bianca's knife slashed up along her arm. She felt the energy begin to drain out of her. Her cuts burned like someone had lit them on fire.

"In the mornings for weeks." Bianca answered.

Then her black eyes flashed dangerously and every cell in Annabeth screamed "Roman" and "danger". Bianca jabbed her knife at Annabeth. Annabeth moved her knife in the way. Bianca's knife hit it and Annabeth's knife flew through the air.

Something flashed in Bianca's eyes.

Annabeth couldn't place it. But she didn't have enough time before Bianca shifted her grip. And then she lunged at Annabeth.

Someone shoved her out of the way. There was the scream of bronze verses bronze then silence. Annabeth spun around on the grass to find Gwen holding Bianca's wrists so tight her knuckles were white. Her swords and Bianca's knife were laying in the grass.

Blood-Annabeth's blood-glinted on Bianca's knife.

"Control, Bianca." Gwen hissed, "Control. Just because you turn into a cold, heartless old Roman doesn't mean you can loose control and kill your friends."

"I-I don't-t know wh-what happened!" Bianca burst in tears.

She and Gwen sank to the grass, Bianca sobbing into Gwen's sleeveless shirt and Gwen holding her tightly. Gwen's eyes met Annabeth's. Those big green eyes that were just like Percy's were scared. Gwen-the big, powerful Roman General- was scared.

Annabeth blinked. Her heart was pounding as the adrenaline finally began to kick in.

She knew what had been missing from Bianca's eyes: Mercy.

There had only been the want to succeed. To crush. To dominate. To step on. To be superior. The things she had been trained to want by the Romans. The things she had learned in the afternoons when she wasn't with Gwen.

The things that people wanted when they were taught family and emotions were bad.

The Romans weren't fooling anyone but themselves.

They had the feelings.

They had the needs.

They were just like the much hated Greeks.

They just wanted to keep everything inside.

They wanted to be flesh statues.

They were just plain stupid.

_**VIII: PIPER: Lunch**_

Bianca couldn't stop crying.

Gwen kept everyone moving though. She wouldn't let Nico near his sister. Piper could tell he was really mad about it. There was a moment when Nico tried to tower of Gwen. There was a moment when he looked furious. There was a moment when Piper was afraid Nico would run Gwen through with his black sword. But after a long stare-down, he backed up.

Piper didn't know what to think. She didn't want to fight when Bianca had almost killed Annabeth. But Gwen just looked at her with those huge, fierce green eyes and said "Fight".

Piper had to admit, it felt good to just fight and switch. Fight and switch. Just focus on not letting the sword bite her. Just focus on how her knife felt in her hand and against her opponent's sword.

Gwen didn't make Bianca fight. Bianca was allowed to sit in the grass and just cry. Since there was an uneven number, Gwen did teams against herself. Two people against her.

Leo was doing okay. He only had his tool belt for fighting, though, so he kept trying to club people with it. Jason was a good sword fighter and managed to stay a full five minutes with Gwen. Nico managed four. Percy ended up with her for thirty minutes. Piper had never seen anything like it.

Gwen went slow with Annabeth and Piper, barking orders and chewing out their mistakes. When Piper fought against Gwen, she felt connected to Annabeth. They both seemed to be on the same wave length. _You move there so she look away and I'll jab. _Gwen was too good for them to get the best of her, but she was an incredible teacher. While Piper was fighting, she'd never felt so good. She'd never felt so confident or talented with her knife. Which was kind of funny since Gwen was still beating the crap out of both of them.

She'd slap them with the flat of her swords. Barking mistakes. Issuing orders. Snarling advice.

The horn for lunch blew. Everyone looked at Gwen, wondering who would be the loser left to stay behind. Leo looked depressed, apparently thinking it was him who'd remain behind.

Gwen surprised them by smiling.

"Good job, warriors. After lunch, which we're all going to, meet me back here fast."

"In other words," Percy said, "You better learn how to pee really fast." he smiled, "We'll all be late."

"I knew you liked us too much to make us skip lunch!" Leo cried. Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Right?"

"How'd training go?" Daisy asked.

"It was..." Piper searched for words, "Hard and fun and I've never done anything like that or worked as hard as I did."

"That's Gwen for you." Daisy answered, "Only the best get to train with her. And the new, really old demigods. She shoves them in the right direction then someone else takes over. If they're really good, they get her again. If you train with Gwen, you are good. Jason used to train with her for about an hour every other day."

"Why only that?" Piper looked at where Jason was eating his pathetic, lonely lunch and where Gwen was having a whispered conversation with Percy and Tyson. "Were they together?"

"Not romantically." Daisy pushed around a wayward piece of rice on her plate. "She was seven and he was six. Gwen's been here since she was born and Jason came when he was two. They were the only kids their age so they became friends to survive. But the friendship worked, you know? Some of the older campers, when they were in story mood, said that you couldn't find Jason without Gwen. They were best friends. Two halves of a whole. But when Gwen fought Georgina, one of our best Mars campers, Neptune claimed her. Jupiter didn't want to be in the shadows so he claimed Jason. Georgina told me that they were moved into their cabins. She said that in the morning, Gwen went racing over to see Jason. Jason told Gwen they couldn't be friends anymore. She said it hurt to watch Gwen's face fall and her heart break. That's coming from a well-seasoned Roman camper of a war god."

"Why did Jason say that?" Piper asked, not feeling very hungry.

"Son of Jupiter. Daughter of Neptune. Dads are enemies. Kids got to be enemies too. It doesn't matter if they were practically one person. They weren't allowed." Daisy shrugged her shoulders like it didn't matter. Like it was just some Roman routine you just got used to eventually. Piper felt empty, looking around at the stiff Roman faces trying to hold back their fear, anger, and glee.

What was she doing in this place?

How had Jason lived here?

Why were there so many people here?

Piper felt sick suddenly.

"I gotta go to the bathroom." she said, jumping to her feet.

All she really wanted to do, though, was get out.

Get out.

Get away.

_**Chapter X: GUINEVERE: Confrontation**_

Gwen shot one more glance Bianca's way before she stood up and made her way out of the pavilion. She wanted to know why Bianca had semi-snapped. She had seen the look Bianca had given Annabeth before. It was especially usual in Mars campers. But they had always managed to pull out before they did any serious, life-threatening damage.

It had always bugged Gwen. Every time she saw the look. She wondered. But she had never done anything. Had never asked anything. She had decided it wasn't her place. No one had gotten severely hurt, so she shouldn't stick her nose into others' business. But this time it had gone too far.

She wanted to know exactly what was happening.

She wanted to know if Lupa was training them or if someone else was.

She wanted to know what they were training.

She wanted to know why they were training them.

And she wanted to know how to pound sense into their pea-sized heads.

Gwen wandered around the cabins a little aimlessly. There wasn't a place you could go and find Lupa. Lupa just appeared out of the shadows whenever and however she pleased. It didn't matter if you needed her or not, were in an awkward situation or not, she just came or didn't.

Gwen sighed and sat down in the grass. She glared at the perfect blades. She curled her fingers around them then felt her anger and fear. She began to rip out the grass.

"Beating up on grass, Jackson?" a smooth, sly voice asked. Gwen was on her feet and had her sword to the speaker's throat before she identified him. Midnight black eyes watched her coolly.

_Carson. _

"Roberts," she snapped, trying to get her emotions tamed, "What do you want?" Okay, that was an epic fail.

"I heard your class didn't go as smoothly as you planned." Carson sneered at her while she flicked her wrists to put up her swords.

"What do you know about anything?" she asked, noticing the brown patch of dirt and the pile of uprooted grass. Her handiwork. Great.

Carson chuckled. Gwen stepped over the random spot of bare ground.

"Leave me alone." she snapped at him.

"Of course," Carson followed her, "What did you expect from a bunch of _Greeks?" _he chuckled again, pushing his stop-sign-red hair back as if he was all that. Gwen gritted her teeth. He'd caught her at an emotional break and she was having trouble getting her Roman mask back into place.

"Go. Away."

"Feisty today, Jackson?" Carson continued to follow her.

"Deaf much, Roberts?" Gwen snarled. _Screw the Roman Mask. _

"I heard it was one of your Roman charges who almost skewered one of those idiots."

"They aren't idiots, and how do you know so much? Were you spying on us, you creep? What would Lupa have to say about you skipping?" Gwen spun around to glare at him. Carson grinned. He was easily taller than Gwen and eighteen. He was the son of Discordia and enjoyed it.

Usually Gwen could rise above Carson's taunts.

She was already mad though. Out of control.

"Oo, standing up for the rejects."

"Don't you have something intelligent to do?"

Carson silently laughed.

"Right," Gwen snapped, "Of course you don't have anything _intelligent _to do. What was I thinking?"

"Aw, Gwen, don't be like that."

"It's Guinevere."

Carson sighed and scratched his head.

"Don't be so pissy. Your little Greek freaks didn't get hurt too bad by my training, did they?"

"What?" Gwen snapped to. "You train B in the afternoons?" She knew Carson was pretty good at fighting, his mother was Mars's sister, it was kind of in his blood, but Carson had never threatened or tried to fight Gwen. He had rarely fought anyone. Gwen had always tried to avoid him. The way he looked at her never settled well.

"I train a lot of people." Carson smiled and took a step forward. He smelled like grass and beer. Gwen took an involuntary step back. His smile widened. "I probably do."

Gwen's fist curled. She wouldn't let him just run over her.

"What exactly are you teaching them?"

"I'm training them how to be Romans. Real, true Romans. Gotta problem with that, Jackie?"

"Maybe." Gwen answered, "I have a problem when they don't think like people and try to kill friends."

"Greeks aren't friends, Jackie."

"That's _not _my name."

"Aren't we sensitive?" Carson took another step towards her.

"Back off." Gwen stepped away. Carson grinned. "What are you training them? Whatever it is, you're messing with them."

"'Messing with them'..." Carson looked down at her, "A child of Discordia doesn't know what that means."

"What does that mean?" Gwen snapped, taking another step away from him. "Keep your distance!"

"What do you think, Jackie?"

"That's not my name."

"Are you just trying to ruin them? Are you trying to turn them into soulless monsters? They're people!"

"Not with the right training." Carson sneered, "We're Romans. We're cold. We're mean. We're merciless. Our name is war." it was an evil sneer. "What's wrong with reminding ourselves of that with a little bit of fun and deception?"

"You're sick." Gwen snarled.

"Spoken like a true Greek." Carson stepped even closer.

"Get the Hades away from me!" Gwen was pressed up against a cabin. Carson's sneer widened. Were his teeth a little sharp on the tips?

"She said keep your distance." A black sword was between them suddenly. Stygian iron, black as death, flashed. Carson scrunched up his face in disgust and back tracked as fast as he could. He controlled his features.

"Who says?" he demanded.

"Son of Hades, so I'd watch my step." Nico stepped closer to Carson, his whole body like a threat. Carson's eyes flashed with fear and he tried to smirk at Nico but the slight show of emotion turned on him and twisted into a terrified grimace.

"Whatever." he spun around and scurried away, though.

"That's a son of Discordia, I'd be careful." Gwen said to Nico. He turned around to her, his aviator's jacket brushing her arm. It was cold. His black eyes burned through her.

"I'm sure I'll be fine, being the son of death and all." his face was guarded, trying to gauge her face and how she was taking being that close to him. "I'm sorry." he stepped away from her, moving like a shadow.

"For what?" Gwen asked. The cabin she was against was freezing cold.

"Freaking you out." he answered, receding even more.

"No, you're fine. I'm not freaked." Gwen told him. His eyes never wavered. Never faltered. Never blinked.

He gave the smallest of smirks.

"Trying to be nice? How charitable." he backed up even more and seemed to vanish in the shadows.

Gwen exhaled.

She looked up to the cabin she was leaning against.

It was solid black.

It was the Pluto cabin.

She looked back to the shadows Nico had vanished into, but they were gone. There were no shadows at all.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter XI: ANNABETH: Seashore Meeting **_

"Come with us, Annabeth."

Gwen had Annabeth's hand and was pulling her.

"Where are we going?" she asked, feeling a little suspicious. "And who's 'us'?" Gwen flashed her a real smile.

"Every person connected to our little Greek family." Gwen said happily.

Annabeth wondered what Gwen was up to but obediently followed, her mind spinning with possibilities. Gwen's hand was cool as she led Annabeth to the edge of the cliff. She wondered if Gwen was going to try to talk her into cliff diving into sand but instead she led Annabeth to a small path carved in the cliff.

"Where are we going?" Annabeth asked again, trying to pick her way over the uneven ground and keep pace with Gwen who still had a sturdy grip on her hand.

"You'll see." Gwen replied in a sing-song voice.

"You sound like Daisy." Annabeth teased. Gwen flashed her another genuine smile.

"We haven't been able to do this in a while. Everyone wanted to watch you Greekies and be sure you wouldn't kill them in their sleep. But, now that you've been here for about a week, they've chilled. And now that you're down on their 'red-alert' radar, we can really enjoy some Greekie time."

"Why am I afraid?" Annabeth smiled at Gwen's blazing green eyes.

Gwen rolled her eyes and dragged Annabeth on.

"Whoa, it's beautiful."

The full moon danced on the peaceful water of the ocean. The waves were all sorts of different colors. It was like one of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings with swirling colors and a sense of unreality even though it was a picture of something real.

"It's beautiful." Annabeth said again.

"Come on, we'll be late." Gwen pulled on her hand again but with less of an urgency. More like a reminder that they would have to tear away from the beautiful picture full of sounds and feelings.

"Where are we go...?"

Someone-probably Leo-had created a small fire in the sand. The little flames danced and created a little ring of light around the party. Piper and Leo had Jason firmly by the arms as if he might bolt away from the Greek gathering the first chance he got. Annabeth noticed he was the only one in pajamas so he must have been kidnapped.

Percy was getting up from the ground and wiping sand out of his mouth while Tyson stood next to him, hand raised, ready to "pat" him on the back again. Nico and Bianca were silent, their part of the circle darker than everyone else's. Annabeth felt a trickle of ice run down her back when she and Gwen passed them. Gwen seemed perfectly fine.

Daisy was tossing sand into the fire, enjoying when the flames jumped. She didn't seem to notice Leo was behind the fire's acrobatic ways. Percy dusted off his shirt and smiled at Annabeth.

She felt her heart melt.

They'd been careful around each other. It was like they were tied together by a pipe and were trying to waltz around a store full of marble and glass. They were both testing how much Percy knew and could remember. She wasn't sure if she should just jump into his arms and hope he remembered her last name or if she should watch him and test his memory. Plan it. Think about it. Make sure she wouldn't embarrass herself.

"Welcome to the party, Annabeth." Percy said, sitting down into the sand. She really wanted to cuddle up next to him but she wasn't sure. He'd been gone for such a while. He'd lost his memory.

"Thanks for inviting me, Seaweed Brain." she answered, deciding she would just sit where she was awkwardly standing like a dope.

Gwen had other ideas. She lead Annabeth over to Percy and smiled sweetly in a face that said "Sit or die". She sat. Gwen smiled and plopped down in between Annabeth and Nico. Annabeth felt her skin begin to goose-bump as she realized how close Gwen had put her to Percy. She could feel his First Legion T-shirt brushing against her arm. His sea fresh smell was almost overpowering. All she had to do was move an inch and wrap her arms around his neck...

"Seaweed Brain?" Jason asked.

"Got a problem with that," Gwen asked, a smile tight on her lips, "Sparky?" Jason returned her fake smile with a stare fit for Romans. Gwen didn't seem bothered by its apparent hostility.

"What a _friendly _gathering." Nico said in his deep voice. Shivers danced up Annabeth's arms. She would never forget her surprise when Nico showed up at Camp Half-Blood about six years older. He had more of a dark energy about him. As if he was finally beginning to gasp the full extent of his powers.

"When will the rest of the Greeks be able to come?" Daisy broke the silence finally.

"I don't think Lupa will permit anymore Greeks, Daisy. Isn't that what she said?" Annabeth answered. Daisy shrugged.

"When will you leave with Percy?" she asked. Annabeth sensed every muscle in Gwen's body tighten to a snapping danger. She glanced over at Gwen but she was protected by her sturdy Roman Mask.

"Who says we have to leave?" Piper asked, her voice just a little too high. Annabeth's eyes flashed to Jason, knowing he was the main reason.

"Lupa doesn't like Greeks." Gwen answered, perfect in Roman voice.

"Then why does she have you?" Piper retorted, her face flushing as soon as the words were out.

"Gwen's Roman." Annabeth answered her.

"Why would she have you, Gwen?" Piper asked though, seemingly determined to keep up the fantasy that Gwen was Greek. But that wasn't possible. Because then they would have had Gwen at Camp Half-Blood. Annabeth's eyes glanced to Gwen's face. The Romans wouldn't steal a Greek child, would they?

"Why would she have me?" Gwen whispered. Her voice was so soft. Yet everyone could hear it. "For war. For an advantage."

Gwen's fists curled in the sand.

"Why else?" She asked, her eyes scanning their faces.

She stood up stiffly and walked along the beach's wet sand.

_**Chapter XII: PIPER: A Message from the Mud**_

It was Piper's free hour.

She was wandering around the camp like she did every day on her free period. This time she decided she'd walk along the edge of the camp. Right on the border.

Piper walked slowly, wishing for a field of tall, tall grass she could wade through. But, to a Roman, two inch grass was a ghastly nightmare. So the grass on the forgotten, far reaches of the camp were one inch and three-quarters tall.

She thought about the night before and how she'd messed with Gwen. The words had just come out of her mouth by their own accord. She had wanted to know and her mouth just seemed to get away from her. But what did it mean? A Greek in First Legion? Did the Romans just go out and kidnap Greek demigods willy-nilly for an advantage in war? Was Gwen the only one or was Jason maybe a Greek too?

Her heart seemed to fill with the hope.

Which probably meant he was a bonafide Roman. That's how things usually worked, right? She sighed when she came to the edge of the camp. There wasn't a real physical boundary, there was just something Piper felt in her that said the side she was on was monster-free and the other side was dangerous and she was teetering over the edge.

"Planning on breaching the border?" A voice said suddenly.

Piper jumped sky high and gave a brave little squeak of surprise. Her eyes zeroed in on the Roman speaker. Reyna laughed.

"Greeks..." she muttered, "That's pathetic." she glared at Piper. Without thinking, Piper took a step back. "You have no guts, Greek. You shouldn't be here, in our territory. This is for heroes, not sappy little marshmallows with butter knives."

"What's your problem?" Piper snapped at her.

"You like Jason, don't you?"

It could have been a casual comment, if Reyna hadn't said it like a threat. If her caramel eyes weren't burning into Piper's. It didn't matter though, it left Piper speechless, open-mouthed like a fish. She could feel the flush creeping up on her cheeks.

"You have absolutely _no _chance with him." Reyna told her in her cool Roman voice. Piper wanted to rip her voice right out of her throat and tell her that she did have a chance and she _had_ had a relationship with Jason. But it was all fake. All those memories she had of Jason.

It was just Hera putting pictures and fake memories of three months of Jason into Piper and Leo's heads. It was fake that he was her boyfriend. They'd never kissed. Yet the memory-the fake memory-was great. It was perfect. So real. So heartbreaking.

And looking at Reyna, Piper felt she didn't have a chance. _You're right. You're right. _she heard herself saying in her head. Reyna with her sun-kissed blonde hair riding in rivers down her shoulders into two low, graceful pigtails. No baby-ness there. Piper knew she could never pull that off. Her skin was flawless and evenly tan. Her eyes were deep and beautiful and strong.

Piper felt inadequate next to her. What, with her mousy brown hair all choppy and unevenly braided. With her ever-changing eyes that could never decide on a color. Wish-washy. That's what it was. Piper with her mellowed Cherokee complexion.

"How do you know that?" Piper found herself saying. Maybe she should buy a muzzle for herself. That came up with an interesting image. "How do you know anything? You haven't seen Jason in almost a year. He's been at Camp Half-Blood with _me _and Leo. We're real friends. We stuck by his side. We don't care if he bawls or if he's a rock. He can be who he wants to be at our camp. He can be himself. So how do you know him? You Romans are always hiding things. Keeping secrets. How do you know _anything _about _anything!" _Piper yelled.

It was Reyna's turn to gape open mouthed at Piper. Only for a moment. But in that moment, Piper saw the real Reyna. Vulnerable and unsure and jealous. It shocked her. It made her only want to be alone even more. She didn't want to see Reyna as weak. She didn't want to see her as vulnerable.

But wasn't that just what Piper had told her to be? Open?

She needed to be alone with her thoughts. With her feelings. She was so mixed up. So confused about how everything was spinning. This camp made everything uncertain and questionable and wrong.

"I'm sick of this place!" Piper yelled at Reyna. "Get away from me!"

And Reyna obeyed. Like people always obeyed when she did or didn't try to charmspeak them.

Piper felt disgusted with herself.

She glared at the grass. She gritted her teeth and stamped on the perfect grass. The perfect blades. The perfect green.

She knew she was being juvenile. She knew she looked stupid. She knew she was acting like a baby. But it felt so good to just pound the stupid, perfect grass into oblivion. She stepped on a rock.

Like the goof she felt like, she lost her balance. Piper groaned when she slammed onto the ground. Half outside the boundary. The ground rippled under her hands. Piper stiffened and began to scramble back to Roman soil. But the ground sucked her hands up, straight to her elbows. Her vision when fuzzy with fear.

She shrieked.

The earth was like mud. It began to rise up in a column. Piper struggled but her patch of dirt was packed and hard, worse than hand-cuffs. The column got the shape of a woman. A sleeping woman. The woman smiled a little.

"It feels so good to have you as my captive. I can feel your pulse... you're so delicate. So easy to break. To crush. To _kill._' she laughed, "I can feel you shaking."

"You don't really want to kill me." Piper said in her best charmspeak voice. It was shaking. Gaea shook her head slightly, as if trying to get Piper's voice out of her head.

"It's not polite to interrupt, daughter of dove. Shut up." the ground leapt up and wrapped around Piper's mouth. She tried to scream again. It was useless. "But, you're right, I don't want to kill _you." _another dreamy smile. Piper fought against her bonds. "I need someone stronger. Someone who will feed me into consciousness."

Piper tried to growl. Is that the best these creeps could come up with? Kidnapping? First Hera. Apparently Reyna. Now someone else?

"When I strike, you'll know. You'll have three days to find me. Three days to bargain. Three more days to live before I end their life and your's too when you try to find me. It will be entertaining. Watching you trying to save your little friend. Fun, fun, fun. Good bye, hero. I'll see you in three days time."

The column of dirt melted back into the ground. Piper ripped her hands out of the dirt. The constrain on her mouth turned to mud. She scrambled back onto First Legion, gasping and clutching the grass. Never before so happy about its perfect and definite Roman-ness.

The horn for lunch blew, loud and clear.

Piper had to go tell someone about Gaea. She couldn't seem to stop shaking though. Precious moments were being wasted. What if Gaea was planning to kill someone during lunch? She was just breathing in grass.

Piper jumped onto her wobbly legs and began to run down hill. She tumbled down it, hurting the whole way down. She tore through the cabin area. The pavilion was in sight. She was half-aware that she was covered in mud.

Then a scream split the air.

_**Chapter XIII: GUINEVERE: The Poisoned Cup**_

Gwen was already walking into the pavilion before the horn blew. Percy was hunched over their table, stuffing his mouth with something, while Tyson egged him on. In a word: Trouble. She smiled, a laugh on the tip of her tongue before she bit it back and controlled her face. She wasn't really hungry so she just grabbed a cup and sat down across from Percy.

"What are you cramming into your mouth like some undignified ape?" she asked, cocking her head to the side slightly.

"Jalapeño chips covered in spicy salsa." he answered, spraying her with his mouthful.

"Should I call the fire department, crazy?" she asked, "Water." she tapped her cup. It instantly filled with ice cold water.

"Jerk." Percy spewed more food at her.

"Percy's trying to finish this WHOLE plate in under five minutes." Tyson said happily. "You almost got it!"

"When you're done, you won't be able to taste food in about a week. You'll have burned all your taste buds off."

"Kill joy." he knocked her water off the table. She didn't try to get it, she was too busy trying to fight off the laugh that was aching to come bubbling up and out of her. She heard her plastic cup hit the floor. Just one hit. She turned around to find Carson smiling his evil grin at her, holding her half-empty cup of water.

"Drop something?" he asked.

"You would find it, wouldn't you?"

"A simple thank you would suffice, Jackie."

"We went through how that's not my name." Gwen took the cup from Carson.

"Ah, yes, I'm still waiting for an apology from your bodyguard." Carson's eyes shifted ever so slightly towards the Pluto table.

"_You_ should apologize to Nico." Gwen snapped, starting to take a sip of her water. She pulled away from it. It smelled of mud and bronze. Weird. What funny thing did it hit when it kissed the floor?

"Like I would even touch that freaky Greek with a twenty foot pole."

"Go away, you snooty freak." Gwen snapped at him.

"PERCY! YOU DID IT!" Tyson bellowed.

Percy grabbed his water cup and sucked it dry. Instead of just telling it for a refill, he grabbed Gwen's.

"Wait-Percy-it's weird-" he guzzled it.

For a moment he was fine.

Laughing.

Grinning.

Salsa on his lips.

Then everything went wrong.

His skin paled.

His pupils dilated until his green eyes had only thin slivers of green.

His eyes rolled up in his head.

And he collapsed.

Gwen screamed.

_**Chapter XIV: GUINEVERE: Hugs**_

She couldn't think straight.

The cup clattered to the floor.

"PERCY!" Gwen screamed. She was on the floor next to him, her fingers tight around his purple shirt. Was he turning paler? "Percy?" she whispered.

"APOLLO!" Gwen yelled. "Get Percy to the Hospital Tent! NOW!" Something glimmered on the floor. "Reyna! Hurry!"

She curled her fingers around the cup. What had happened? A coin gleamed on the floor. She took it and squeezed it in her hand, its smooth edges bit into her palm. She'd probably just nicked someone's savings but she needed something to hold. She was so close to bursting into crazy tears. She needed to get away.

"Bobby! Samuel! Pick Percy up and get him into the Hospital Tent!" her voice was edging on hysteria. The two brawny Mars boys grabbed Percy. "Reyna! You and your best! NOW!" The majority of the Apollo cabin jumped up and chased after the boys.

Gwen's mind was spinning.

She knew she wouldn't be of any help if she followed. She'd only be in the way. Gwen took a faltering breath and ran the other way.

"Gwen!" Annabeth yelled after her.

Everyone was confused.

But Gwen couldn't hold back her tears and fears any more.

She wouldn't let anyone see her cry.

She stopped when she got to the cliff that overlooked the perfect sea. But the sea wasn't perfect today. It was more green and the waves were short and choppy. Inner turmoil. How Gwen felt on the inside.

"Gwen."

"Go away." she didn't recognize the voice. All she knew was that she was blubbering and sniffling and drenched in tears. Even a Greek-raised Greek wouldn't want anyone to see that.

"Gwen." it was hesitant and deep. She heard him take an uncertain step forward like he shouldn't be near people.

"I said go away." her voice broke, giving away that she was bawling like a baby.

"Gwen?"

He bent down next to her. Gwen could feel the intense cold of his body. She could feel his probing black eyes.

"Is he dead, Nico?" she looked up at him. He seemed surprised at her tear-streaked face.

"No." he answered.

"Do you know what happened to him?"

"No."

"What's happening to him?" Gwen curled her fingers in the grass, feeling the coin dig into her hand. Nico didn't answer this time. He pressed his lips together.

"Please? Nico, he's my brother." she searched his piercing black eyes. He rocked back on his heels, unsure of what to tell her and slightly unnerved at her courage to look into his eyes. "Please?"

"His life aura is fading. Like someone's draining him of it. Or something. I don't know, Gwen." Nico stood up, uncomfortable to be alone with a teary-eyed girl.

Gwen didn't want him to leave though. Just having someone there seemed to be an incredible comfort. And Percy wasn't dead. Someone was just draining him of life. Nico, and maybe Bianca, were the only people who could tell her then and there.

"Please don't leave." Gwen found herself begging.

"Me?" Nico took an uncertain step back.

"No, there's someone else here who decided to stop and follow me." Gwen found herself slightly smiling, momentarily forgetting the crisis at hand. Nico glared darkly at her.

"I didn't follow you." he said stiffly.

The waves caught the sun's light. Gwen looked away from Nico. Unhappy water. Turmoil. Gwen hugged herself. She slowly stood up.

"Yeah, sorry." she told him, wiping her eyes hurriedly.

"Gwen?"

"Promise me he'll be okay?" Gwen asked.

"You know I can't do that." Nico sighed, "The children of death and me, above all else, should know better than to make promises of life." he sighed, "Person experience with that."

Gwen wiped her eyes again.

"I'm sorry." Nico said, taking another timid step back.

Gwen burst into a fresh start of tears and wrapped her arms around Nico's neck. If she'd seen his face, it probably would have been slack with shock and embarrassment.

But she didn't care at the moment. She just wanted a hug from a non-Roman. And Nico was the only person stupid enough to get too close. It felt like she was clinging to a block of ice. He was freezing cold and stiff with surprise and uncertainty.

She was puking emotions again.

"I'm sorry." she whispered to him, letting go. She was better. Ready to stiffen back up. Ready to go back into her Roman shell.

"GWEN!"

Gwen snapped to and jerked.

Piper was running towards her. Her arms and jeans and face were covered in mud. She had a panicked face on which Gwen was sure she mirrored. Piper stopped and her eyes darted quickly to Nico before they zeroed in on Gwen.

"We have three days." Piper gasped, clutching her side.

"What?" Gwen demanded.

"We have three days before it's too late."

"What-how-?" Gwen stuttered, her mind trying to wrap around it.

"Gaea told me."

Gwen looked at the mud Piper was covered in with more of a skeptical eye.

"But how could Gaea get to Percy?" Gwen ran a hand through her bangs.

"She would need a certain amount of control of him to do that. She would need to actually physically touch him or need an object with something of him in it." Nico said thoughtfully.

Gwen's breath caught in her throat.

The bronze coin, the token, Percy, she, and Bianca had found on their early summer quest. It was lost, they thought. Lost in the rolling ground. Saved by Gaea, mother of the earth. But it had _her_ blood in it. It should have taken, controlled, killed her.

"She'd need something, a token maybe, with something of his. And," Nico's voice dipped down even deeper, "he would have needed something so she could connect to him. So she could control him. He probably drank something with the token in it."

"That would mean," Piper said, "that someone put the token in his cup. Does that mean we have a traitor in our midst?"

"Careful with those words." Nico said suddenly. Piper flinched.

Gwen looked down at her hands. Slowly, she opened her hand. In it was the coin she'd taken. It was a small bronze coin. It could have been mistaken for money...if it wasn't plain and didn't have a layer of dirt in spots around it. Her heart was pounding.

"It was _my _cup." she whispered. "It was supposed to be _me_."

_**Chapter XV: ANNABETH: Greeks With Guts**_

It didn't take long for Annabeth to figure out what the heck was happening. The fact Gwen shrieked, yelled Percy several times, called for two strong Ares boys and half the Apollo cabin, then ran out in half-tears, it wasn't hard to figure out something awful happened to Percy.

No one would let her near the Hospital Tent. A, because Percy was being examined. B, because she wasn't allowed to loiter around the tent when she should have been training. And C, because she was a "Greekie". All points that made her extra nervous or pissed off.

Luckily, she ran into a dark-looking Nico, a tear-stained Gwen, and a mud-smeared Piper almost immediately after she stomped away from the tent and the taunts of "Greekie, Greekie".

"How's Percy?" Gwen asked at once.

"Those-" Annabeth closed her mouth and rubbed her lips together, searching for a word that would portray her dislike for the two Ares idiots while using semi-appropriate words, "Those mindless, heartless, compassionless, gutless _Romans_," Oh, yeah, that would send them running. She just called them Romans. _Way to go, Annabeth,_ "won't let me within ten feet of the tents."

She fingered her knife thoughtfully, enjoying the thought of treating them like a fish she just caught. Gwen had a momentarily look like she would enjoy joining her before she tried to rearrange her face. The concern didn't leave but she looked more in control.

"Annabeth, we have three days." Piper announced.

"What?" Annabeth asked, afraid the mud diving Piper was borderline crazy. She stamped her foot in frustration.

"Gwen, tell her about the penny."

"It's a bronze coin." Gwen said. She looked at Annabeth. She braced herself, a bad feeling rising up in her chest.

"We have to find Lupa, fast!" Annabeth was power walking. Piper and Gwen were jogging to try to keep up with her. Nico was perfectly fine with stretching his long legs. "Gwen, where's Lupa?"

"Good luck finding her. Lupa appears whenever Lupa wants to." Gwen sighed, sounding like she'd had many an occasion when she couldn't find Lupa.

"Yes, Lupa does." All four of them jumped back. Lupa curled her lips back in a delighted sneer. "What are you doing, little ones?"

"We have three days until Gaea sucks all the life out of my brother and rises into consciousness. With your permission, we want to send out a quest to stop or bargain or anything with her." Gwen said, complete in Roman voice, stepping forward a little. Making her body almost a shield between Lupa and Annabeth.

"And how do you know this?" Lupa demanded, her voice cool but her black eyes flashing.

"She told me." Piper spoke up, holding her arms out slightly so Lupa could clearly see the dried mud.

"Conversing with Greeks is quite low for her." Lupa told Piper. Piper took a step back.

"I plan to take a Greek or two with me." Gwen announced, standing taller. Lupa glared at her, easily eye level.

"And have any volunteered?" Lupa asked sweetly.

"I have." Annabeth stepped forward. She wouldn't be able to see Percy and be with him for the last days of his life so she might as well try to save it.

"And me." Piper crossed her arms firmly over her chest.

"Greeks with guts. I'm impressed. You have my permission and wish for good luck. Greeks with guts...Gwen, you know what to do?"

"Yes, Lupa. Of course." Gwen nodded her head sharply.

"Greeks with guts..." and Lupa slipped away, a trick almost as good as Nico's disappearing trick.

"You sure you want to go?" Gwen asked Annabeth.

"Better to save him than wait for him to die and not see him." Annabeth shrugged like it was nothing.

"Sure?" Gwen turned to Piper.

"She may talk to me again and if we're bargaining, I'm the one who can make those odds go in our favor." Piper gave a pretty smile.

"So, the quest of the bronze coin begins." Nico whispered. When they turned around, he was gone.

"Trying to outdo Lupa." Gwen muttered.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter XVI: PIPER: On the Other Side of the Rainbow Water**_

"Knives out, Greekies." Gwen teased, her mask slipping, "This forest is teaming with lovely little monsters who would love to split open your guts and spill them on their stale toast."

"Well, with that pretty picture in mind..." Piper said, pulling Katoptris out of its sheath.

"Where are we going, Gwen?" Annabeth asked, her grip on her knife tight. Piper found herself almost walking on Gwen as she tried to stay close. Gwen flicked her wrists and raked her swords together as they came out. A horrible screech ripped through the forest. Everything went silent. Piper shivered and stepped on Gwen's heel.

"Nervous?" Gwen asked, glancing back at her. Her big eyes seemed to glow in the little light.

"What was that for?" Annabeth asked, her hip nearly bumping into Gwen's. Gwen smiled.

"They know me. They'll get a lot of forces before they come bother us."

"Great, even more monsters? You're too kind." Piper said, her hand brushing the back of Gwen's shirt. Both she and Annabeth seemed to just gravitate towards Gwen. For sure, Gwen was crazy, but she was definitely the one who knew what toast-eating monsters resided in the dark, morbid-feeling forest. And, if anyone could make monsters run, Gwen could.

"Where are you taking us, Gwen?" Annabeth asked again.

"Always worried about the where. Find the Oracle."

"The Roman Oracle." Annabeth said thoughtfully, "This will be something to see."

"Piper, you're going to step on my heels really hard again."

"Sorry." Piper said, not pausing to let a little space between them.

"Gwen," Annabeth sighed, "There's this crazy invention that I know is _really _new but you might want to try it. It's a weird thing called _shoes." _

"Hm," Gwen smiled at the black branches of the trees that were bending down over them like claws, "I didn't know kids of Minerva had a sense of humor."

Gwen pushed back a branch and Piper saw it.

It was a water fall of pure rainbow. Piper looked down at her feet. It was like she was walking on a green cake. The grass stuck to her feet like really green icing. She looked into the pool of water. Her father's face flashed at her, yelling barbarically and hefting a sword high above his head. The Poster. Ugh. Coach Hedge, the rather maniac-like satyr she, Jason, and Leo had befriended and saved, waving a large branch around. Probably yelling "Die!" then some nickname for his poor prey.

"That's interesting." Annabeth said, reaching for the water.

"Don't!" Piper held a hand out, "You might mess it up!"

"This isn't the Oracle, Piper." Gwen said, walking along the edge. She was heading to a small path that wound into the waterfall.

"What do you mean? I see my dad and Coach Hedge."

"The water is just water." Annabeth said, her fingertips brushing the water. It stilled and formed peaceful rings, floating away from her fingers. "It looks like pure rainbow because of the way the water's falling. It reflects _just so _so that it looks like a rainbow's falling into the pool. And the images are just images in your head. You expect something magical to be there, so there is."

"Leave it to a kid of Minerva to mess with the pretty picture." Gwen grumbled, a slight smile hinting on her lips. "This next part isn't any light show, though, Smarty, so I'd watch it."

Piper might have joked if Gwen's eyes didn't look so dead serious.

"What's the next part?" she asked instead.

"We have a meet and greet with the Oracle."

Gwen stepped onto the skinny path and slipped out of sight behind the not-a-real-rainbow-waterfall. Piper hurried after her. The rocks were slick and dangerous. She and Annabeth went a lot slower than Gwen. It was like Gwen couldn't slip on water. Maybe she couldn't.

"I would have loved to see Percy do this." Annabeth said.

"Wouldn't he be like Gwen?"

"Maybe, but he probably fell into the Pool of Thoughts there." Annabeth's eyes twinkled. Whether Percy did or didn't actually fall into the pool, Annabeth was clearly enjoying herself by imagining him getting an unintentional dunk in Rainbow Dreams.

"Gwen?" Piper whispered when they came to the end of the path.

"In here." Gwen voice came from behind a thin wall of water. It was branching off of Rainbow Falls and creating a small barrier. Piper slipped through it and sucked in sharply. It felt as if her body had been stuffed with a bunch of frozen bubbles. Which would be a sight. Annabeth gasped when she went through too. Piper looked at her in the dim light, expecting another "it's nothing" speech.

Annabeth smiled wobbly, pushing back her wet blonde princess curls.

"Like Gwen said, this isn't any light show."

Piper looked forward, her heart hammering a million miles per second. They were in a cave. Didn't Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the Oracle at Camp Half-Blood live in a cave? Did Rachel travel back and forth by a secret portal in her caves to First Legion and Camp Half-Blood? Goosebumps rose on Piper's arms and she seriously doubted it. First Legion's Oracle felt like it hadn't gotten the memo it could live again.

"Where is the Oracle?" Piper whispered.

"There." Gwen answered in hushed tones. And she pointed.

There was a column in the middle of the cave. It was draped in tendrils. Dusty tendrils. Things that had once been living. Snake skins. The few torches hammered into the walls flickered and danced. Laughing at the fear and uncertainty that Piper was fighting off.

"Where's the person?" Piper whispered.

"You have a person?" Gwen asked.

"It used to be a mummy. But after the Second Titan War, we got Rachel Dare."

"Just goes to show that the older demigods have it better. More respect for your age, I guess. The originals get the best." Gwen sighed dramatically, "So, who wants to wake the Oracle up?"

Annabeth and Piper both took a step back. Gwen's eyes twinkled.

"Greekies, don't be afraid..." she sang in a dark, soft voice. Then she took a couple steps forward and touched a snake skin with the nail of a finger. Regardless to her light treatment, the skin exploded.

It filled the air with a fine dust that turned thicker and older and a murky green.

_Heroes shall go deep_

_Into the ground to reap_

_But the power to save_

_Was in the blood of the three knave._

The smoke hung in the air for another moment before it fell. When it hit the smooth stone floor of the cave, it turned back into dust. Like little ants, the grains scurried back to the column and settled peacefully among the other dust grains.

Piper choked on the rotten-egg smelling air.

_**Chapter XVII: GUINEVERE: A Break in Roman Borders**_

Gwen was flustered. She wasn't thinking right. She forgot they only had five minutes until a whole battlefield of monsters collapsed on them. They ran as soon as they got out of the Oracle's cave. She could hear the monsters fighting to catch them. For some reason, the slower ones were alerted to demigod presence first.

They got out of the forest. The monsters might have followed them a little farther if Gwen hadn't ripped out her bronze and let the blades smash together. As if celestial bronze wasn't enough to make a monster think twice...

"Hey, Annabeth," Piper gasped, holding her sides while they began to hike to the border of First Legion, "what's a knave?"

"A knave could be many things. It could be a servant. It could be a journeyman. It could be a deceitful person." Annabeth said, sounding very important and informational and like a total recording. She was just missing a pair of glasses to tweak slightly. Total Minerva kid.

"What's with the number three?" Piper demanded, trying to be rather irritated while out of breath.

"Three's a sacred number." Annabeth said. Gwen rolled her eyes. Annabeth was okay but not when she went all super-smart on Gwen.

"The Big Three." Gwen muttered, "The three Furies."

"Kindly Ones, Gwen." Annabeth snapped.

"The three Fates. The Three Gorgons-"

"Three is just a sacred number." Annabeth interrupted Gwen. "Whenever we send out a quest of more than three, only three return. ALWAYS. What road is this?"

"ADHD." Gwen sighed. "It's Fort Barry."

"I said ROAD."

"And it's Fort Barry."

"Trust you Romans to put your camp on a road. Aren't you ever worried about picnickers? People wandering around into your camp? People crashing their cars into your camp?"

"We're pretty much right next to an old fort. Which means military. If you're training for battle and teaching people about how to not be soft-gutted babies, you have the military's respect. That's how it is here, at least."

"And how do you keep your camp separate? Surely someone will come over onto First Legion." Annabeth argued. Gwen wondered if she was just arguing to argue.

Gwen paused and put her hands on her hips.

"Do you not see the fence?" she snapped.

"Oh, a fence, real high-tech there, Roman." Annabeth tapped the barbed wire. "Yes, you might have beat the cave men."

"_Annabeth." _Piper snapped.

"We still have magical borders, Greekie, don't get too smug." Gwen smirked at Annabeth, "Any mortal who hits our border instantly becomes disoriented and gets away. What do you have? Trees?"

"We have magic!" Annabeth tried to puff up. "Too."

Gwen smirked triumphantly.

"Gwen, does this fence wrap around the entire camp?" Piper asked, looking at the well-kept fence. Definitely Roman.

"Of course."

"When Gaea spoke to me, there was no fence. I fell over the border. There was no fence. What does it mean when there's a break in a Roman fence?"

Gwen got a bad feeling.

"Show me." she ordered.

"Hazel, what do you think?" Gwen called. Hazel was couched over the break. Gwen, Annabeth, and Piper walked up, Gwen's heart sinking the entire time. Hazel opened her mouth and glanced at Gwen, spotted the two Greeks and closed her mouth with a painful sounding _snap! _She glared down at the patch of fence-free dirt.

_Great._ Gwen thought.

How long would it take for these stupid Romans to trust the Greeks just a little? Percy was doing better. He'd been at First Legion for a couple months, though and had saved Reyna, something that really ranked high on the Romans' opinions. Save something, you're a pal. Save someone, you're known. Save a damsel, you're a knight. Save a fellow and well-loved Roman, you're a hero.

"Hazel, _please, _we're going on a quest, we need whatever you got to give us. Please, Greeks, as stubborn and as much as you might refuse it, are your family. Just like Reyna is your friend, Annabeth is. Just like Lynn is your family, Piper is. So, what do you think?"

Hazel worked her mouth like she was trying to chew a really nasty bite of tough meat. She glared at Gwen.

"I think you're crazy, Greek." her face gave a little though, "The fence is still there. It's just been, uh, sucked into the ground."

"Look at that rock." Annabeth ordered, crouching down.

"Maybe it's your brain, Greek." Hazel snapped, moving away like Annabeth had cooties.

"Look at it." She ordered again. "All the other rocks, what few there are, are at least a little in the ground, this one isn't. The ground is hard and solid. Like the ground _rejected _this one rock."

"It's probably the one I tripped on." Piper put in, glaring at it like it might cower and admit to its crimes. However, like most rocks, it remained where it was and maintained the characteristics of a rock.

Incredible.

"Does that mean Gaea is getting through your borders?" Annabeth asked. Hazel paled a little before clearing her throat and standing up.

"I won't hear of such a stupid idea. Roman borders are strong and steady. They don't break. They don't let freaky earth ladies in. They don't just let rocks do whatever they please."

"Are you sure? This could make a lovely rock resort."

"Shut up, Gwen." Hazel snapped. Gwen saw the slight uncertainty and fear in her eyes though.

Eyes are the windows to the soul. They're how Medusa turns you to stone. They are where you look to read a Roman the best. Eyes are the windows to the soul.

_**Chapter XVIII: ANNABETH: Maps of Promise**_

She watched Hazel walk down the hill like someone had tied a board to her back. Annabeth shook her head and walked over the break in the fence. _Sturdy? Barbed wire...very sturdy...the Romans couldn't put in electric fence or cattle panels? Obviously not. War camp. Barbed wire. They probably got the advice on decoration from the Ares cabin. _

"On a _road." _She muttered, glaring at Gwen like it was her fault. Gwen shrugged her shoulders. She didn't seem to care.

"Let's go get our _backpacks, _Greek. Before we cross into the unknown." she offered. Annabeth opened her mouth to say she had her backpack but closed it again because she didn't. She crossed back onto First Legion's territory.

There was mud on her shoes. She glanced behind her but the ground looked rather parched. The hair on the back on Annabeth's neck stood up and she hurried after Gwen and Piper.

First Legion had a place Annabeth might call the camp store. The store had everything. From little trinkets with owls to a huge flame-thrower that would make a child of Hephaestus's job easy and a child of Ares's eyes gleam wickedly. The items had price tags that gave the price in gold coins and points.

"What's points?" Annabeth called, turning around to try to find Gwen. Instead she found a whole wall of maps. She'd never been so happy to be in First Legion. They were duplicates of every map in history. Every map that was known and unknown to Annabeth. But there they were, carefully copied for easy read and legibility. All labeled accordingly by year and era and maker. Annabeth felt herself choking.

This organization she could appreciate. She unrolled a cabinet. All the maps were flat and covered in plastic. Beautiful. Perfectly preserved and protected. It wasn't that it wasn't living, it was that is was being preserved. It was being saved until it could be used. It could live. It could bring life to the dreary Minerva cabin.

If her siblings could look at the maps in front of her and see the possibilities the maps contained. If her siblings would stop worrying about the immediate mess they were making and just explore and love the maps and learning. If they would stop worrying about mess for two seconds, they would have an incredible ability.

They would make Mom proud.

She ran her fingers over the plastic covering. It made a crinkling noise under her fingers. She heard a noise and turned back around.

"You'll get your Greek germs all over that." Dakota told her, his face twisting slightly into a frown.

Annabeth started to say something scathing back but changed her mind. She looked back to the maps and picked the top one up.

"You know, you're like this map, Dakota." she said, her voice calm and even, thoughtful as she spoke, "You have the potential to aid and do great things. But you have to come out of your protective sleeve. You have to look past being afraid that you might get ripped or colored on. You have to think about the bigger picture." She pushed the map into Dakota's hands. "Our mother is the goddess of wisdom. Is it wise to always clean up and never try to live? Try making Mom proud once in a while." she walked away, unbelieving she could speak so smoothly and clearly and calmly, buzzing with doing it, and intent to find Gwen and figure out what the heck points stood for.

_**Chapter XIX: PIPER: Shopping Points**_

Once Annabeth saw the maps, Piper knew she was a goner. In the instant Annabeth's eyes got to the size of plates, Piper was gone, worried she'd be dragged into learning about some thousand year old map that no one could really read anymore.

She found Gwen a few seconds later for protection. Gwen smirked at her when she glanced at Piper then found Annabeth drooling over the maps. Gwen tapped her lip then grabbed a few purple T-shirts.

"I won't wear that." Piper said, picking up another First Legion T-shirt and slightly stretching it. It was cotton. Just like Piper's orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. "I'll feel like-like a traitor." she let one hand release the shirt and smooth her own T-shirt. She tapped her only clay bead.

Gwen's eyes followed her hand. There was a flash of-what? Sadness? Jealousy?

"You'll wear it if it means this or nothing." Gwen brushed her bangs behind her ear and pulled some ambrosia squares down from the wall. "What's that a picture of on your bead?"

Piper glanced down even though it was too high for her to see and she already knew what was on it. She fingered her clay bead. It was purple. SPQR was in the center with a laurel wreath around it. To symbolize the Greeks remembering the Romans. To symbolize Jason coming to camp.

"I think you know what it is." Piper said. Gwen smiled. A delicate, careful smile.

"Oh, gods, Dakota found Annabeth. I think he's attracted to her, you know?" Gwen murmured so quietly only Piper could hear. Piper glanced behind her. Annabeth was shoving a map into Dakota's hands. She said something and marched off, her eyes on Gwen. Dakota was staring after her, looking like a fish. His expression was of surprise, awe, and anger.

Piper hid a smile behind her hand.

"Gotta secret admirer, there, Annabeth?" Gwen teased.

She earned a death glare.

"Okay, Gwen, what are points?" Annabeth demanded like Gwen had been evading her of this painfully important information.

"What?" Gwen asked, throwing her a worried glance while she grabbed a couple pairs of shorts. She started for the "check-out" station.

"You heard me. What. Are. Points?" Annabeth repeated slowly.

"Oh, points. When you work or fight or something, you earn points. You can use them for the store to buy something you want or need for everyday or a quest. Win enough points and you can get a personal sword or bow from the Vulcan forges. Those are some high-quality weapons."

"Do you have enough points for all this stuff?" Piper asked. Gwen had three backpacks with three things of everything so everyone had their own personal money, ambrosia, nectar, shorts, shirts, and shoes. Except Gwen. She didn't seem to appreciate the great service shoes served for the well being of a person's foot.

"I've been here seventeen years." Gwen said, her voice going up a little dangerously. It was tinged with a bitterness.

The Venus camper at the register glanced over the goods then pulled out a calculator and wasted about ten minutes picking at the numbers before Annabeth sighed and did the math in her head.

The pretty brunette didn't seem to appreciate a "Greekie" teaching her how to add. She added an extra point to the charge. Annabeth snarled the whole way out.

"Annabeth!" someone called.

Naturally, everyone turned around as if that was their name.

"Here." Dakota shoved a bag into Annabeth's hands and marched off, hands in his pockets, face bright red. Annabeth held the bag for a moment before opening it and pulling out the map. At least it looked like a map. It was the old yellowish color but it was blank on both sides. Dakota had scribbled a note and placed it on the cover, perfectly straight and on center: _For the Athena girl who will bring us to life._

Five words on each line. Annabeth pursed her lips in a small smile and slipped the wanna-be map into her backpack.

"Hey, Piper, good luck!"

Jason waved to her. Piper felt herself smile and wave back.

Reyna appeared next to Jason and glared at her. She pulled her bow string back. Piper could hear the _twang! _from all the way over where she was.

_**Chapter XX: GUINEVERE: Three Old Ladies, One Eye, and a Cab**_

When they crossed the border, Gwen could feel the earth try to hold her down. She could feel Gaea trying to suck her into her clutches like the poor fence.

"So," she started, trying to keep her mind off of how the mud was unpleasantly in between her toes, "Where are we headed, Annabeth?"

"Good thing I came, you needed some brains to this operation." she answered. Gwen grinned.

"That was a burn on you too, Piper." Gwen said, nudging the ruggedly pretty Venus daughter. Piper smiled at her. Her eyes sparkled a light green for a second before they became more of a deep blue.

"Anyway," Annabeth shot another glare Gwen's way, Gwen seemed to be an award-winner in glares, "The prophecy said we'd go deep into the ground."

Like that would clear things up?

"Uhum," Gwen cleared her throat loudly while they hiked to the road, "Excuse me, not a brainiac here."

"We'll go to the subway. That's pretty deep underground. We'll work from there." Annabeth explained very slowly.

"Okay, are we going to hike to the subway station? This isn't really the cabbie hot spot. Just saying, but it's going to be a long walk and we already wasted _plenty _of our three little days. This is a deadline we don't want to be a little late for."

Annabeth glared at her like it was Gwen's fault. Her gray eyes twinkled when an idea popped into her head. Gwen could see the wheels spinning. She took a step back to avoid any dangerous moves Annabeth might be planning and to get unstuck from the deepening mud.

Instead of pulling out her knife and trying to shut Gwen up, Annabeth reached into her pocket and pulled out a golden coin. She smiled for a second at Gwen's suspicious look. Then she threw the coin into the air.

_She's lost it._ Gwen thought. And then the coin hit the pavement. Instead of bouncing up with the metallic coin sound, it sank into the road. Something coins didn't and shouldn't do. Piper looked just as surprised as Gwen felt. For a moment, nothing happened.

And then a car rose up out of the road. There was a gray smoke around its tires and instead of being a bright yellow cab, it was a smoky gray. Any words that might have been on it were lost in the thick smoke and Annabeth's rush to get in.

The seats creaked and cracked under them as they slipped in. Three old ladies were squished in the front seat. The Fates.

"Give me the eye!" the one in the driver's seat demanded. The one on the other side of the car shook her head furiously.

"No! I want it! It's my turn to see!"

"I'm driving!" the other yelled, slamming on the gas. Gwen, Annabeth, and Piper were smashed into the back of their seat.

"Turn!" the lady with the eye bellowed. "Turn, you'll crash, you half-wit! Turn! Turn!"

"Give me the eye!" the driver yelled again, narrowly turning in time to avoid flying off the road.

"I'll give you the eye if I can have the tooth!"

"No! I'm hungry!" the middle lady whined, cupping her old hands over her mouth.

"Give her the tooth!" the driver yelled.

"Turn! Left, you idiot! Left! YOUR OTHER LEFT! Turn! Turn!" the one with the eye screeched.

Gwen and Annabeth slammed sideways into Piper who groaned.

"We want to go to the subway station!" Annabeth squeaked when the driver turned and Gwen and Piper squished her.

"CRAZY!"

All three old ladies spun around to glare at them. Piper squealed. One blood-shot, ugly eye and five empty sockets did that to a person.

"Watch the road!" Gwen yelled.

"Turn!" the lady with the eye yelled. "No! RIGHT! The other right, stupid! How old are you and you still can't figure out your left from your right? RIGHT!"

"The subway station!" Gwen prompted, smashing into Annabeth again.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" The lady with the tooth announced.

"Yes, we're on a quest-" Piper tried to explain.

"We know." all the ladies chorused together.

"But you aren't going to the subway station." the lady with the eye told them. "TURN LEFT! LEFT I SAY!"

"Then where are we going?" Annabeth asked.

"Where you're supposed to go." The driver said, as if that cleared everything up. "GIVE ME THE EYE!"

"No! I want the tooth!"

"The tooth is _mine!" _

"The gods help us." Gwen muttered.

Then the driver threw on the breaks. Annabeth, Gwen, and Piper slammed forward. Gwen couldn't believe she hadn't broken her nose yet.

"We're here!" the Fates announced together.

"Where's here?" Piper whispered, leaning on Gwen's shoulder to look out Annabeth's window.

"What is that?" Annabeth asked, cocking her head slightly.

Gwen knew what it was.

"It's a bunker." she said.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter XXI: ANNABETH: Bunker 51 **_

Why the Fates decided a bunker that wasn't in the ground was a better idea than a subway station, Annabeth was clueless. But she did know better than to ask them or second guess them. They were the Fates after all. She felt the pressure rise in her chest. It was up to her to open the door and start forward.

Why was it hard? It was a _door. _Doors, much less car doors, didn't require that much thought to open (well sometimes, if the child lock was on, it could get dicey). She shook her head and pulled the handle.

They stepped out of the cab. Annabeth began fishing in her pocket for some more gold drachmas to pay the Gray Sisters with.

"Now, he'll need all of Guinevere's." the Fate with the tooth announced.

"Huh?" Piper asked.

"He'll need a strand of Annabeth and Piper but he'll need all of Guinevere. Yes, that should be just good." the lady with the eye nodded her head.

They seemed to be talking amongst themselves again. They weren't really in the habit of talking to their questing passengers.

"What are you talking about?" Gwen demanded, leaning forward a little. The driver spun around to glare at her. Gwen jumped back, covering her mouth to keep her yelp in. Raise of hands if you want to see eyeless sockets?

"Sometimes you have to go on a merry-go-round of trouble to realize that the solution was something you already had!" she squawked, "WHERE'S MY STEERING WHEEL! DID YOU TAKE IT!" she spun back around to bellow at her sisters.

"It's in your hands, you old ignoramus!" the Fate with the eye yelled back at her. "Take the money!"

"What money!" The other two Fates craned around, as if their empty sockets might help them see something. Annabeth took a step back. Involuntarily.

"The money the girl's giving you! You can see the future but you can't see the money right in front of you?"

Annabeth dropped the drachmas into the driver's eager hands.

"I don't have the EYE!" the driver bellowed, cackling when she rubbed the money together.

"I want to bite it!" the middle lady yelled. The driver and the middle lady got into a fight.

"Remember," the lady with the eye said, "Sometimes the answer is right in front of you, you just have to _open your eyes." _

"I GOT THE TOOTH!"

The driver was very happy. She slammed on the gas and the cab sped away.

"TURN, YOU IMBUSSILE!"

The cab pitched forward, its front moving slower than its back half. It's rear came up and then the car went nose down. It sank into the pavement. Probably returning to New York to cause more havoc. Maybe they'd stop and get a hot dog. Annabeth wondered what that picture would look like.

There was a lot of gaping and potential screaming.

"Why does everyone speak in riddles?" Piper growled. "You can't go anywhere or ask anything without it being a riddle or puzzle!"

Annabeth turned her back on where the Gray Sisters had vanished. Piper was glaring after them but Gwen was turned away from both of them, looking to the bunker. Annabeth took a couple steps forward and joined her.

"So," Piper said, joining them and trying to wipe the mud off her boots, "Are we going in or are you guys going to decide what color to paint it?"

Gwen laughed.

"Aren't we eager?" she asked. Then she turned to Annabeth and looped her arm in hers. "What should we name it?" Annabeth shoved Gwen off, laughing.

"How about Bunker 51?" Piper asked.

"That's Area 51." Annabeth corrected.

"Big difference." Gwen said sarcastically. She was the first to approach the boxy half cylinder of concrete. She tapped on the rusty metal door and it swung open. She turned back to Annabeth and Piper and winked. "Coming?"

"Are you sure you aren't scared?" Annabeth replied, straightening her shoulders and marching after Gwen.

"I'm not scared." Piper announced, "Hey, where are you guys going? Don't leave me!" she chased after them.

The bunker's inner skeleton of steel was old and rusty. There was hardly anything in it. A few old shelves. A broken metal chair with three legs. Someone had graffiti-ed most of the walls. If there were any books, they had been stolen. Annabeth sighed and touched one of the walls.

"It's sad here." she said, letting her hand fall to her side. "Like an old graveyard of the past."

"A dark reminder of what was." Piper answered, standing the chair up. It fell back down without its fourth leg.

"And what is coming." Gwen added.

Annabeth felt a cold shiver run down her spine.

"You have such a way with making everyone feel warm and fuzzy." Piper grumbled, picking the chair back up. It ended with the same result. She picked it back up again, as if it might eventually get sick of falling down and decide "Hey, I'm going to stand tall with only three legs!" But that was thoughts that only a strong, living thing could have. An inanimate object such as Piper's chair had never lived and couldn't stand on its own.

Annabeth bit her lip and turned away.

Gwen was tapping walls. Annabeth sighed and walked up behind her.

"You know-" she started, but Gwen spun around. She was pressed against the wall, swords out, crossed in front of her like an X. There was a wild, fearful look in her eyes. Annabeth became very aware of all the shadows pressing in with the absence of windows.

Gwen swallowed and quickly put her swords up. She rapped her knuckles on the wall behind her. Her face showed none of the wild fear. There was no trace there had been or ever could be.

"I really doubt there's a secret entrance in the walls." Annabeth finished slowly.

"Maybe the Fates are loosing their touch." Piper called from the far end of the bunker.

"Impossible." Annabeth rubbed her arms. It was getting cold.

Cold.

At the end of summer. Barely the end of summer. Autumn was a prospective dream that might dip the days into a few degrees of slightly cooler weather.

But it was _cold _in the bunker. She breathed out. Her icy breath hung in the air. Gwen's eyes widened.

"Piper!" Gwen yelled, "Get over here with us!"

Then the ground began to shake.

"PIPER!"

Gwen grabbed Annabeth's hand and dragged her across the bunker. Annabeth bit her lips to keep the cry of pain inside. Gwen hurt. Piper was against the wall, her eyes darting from the walls and ceiling and floor like she was watching a crazy fly. Gwen had her wrist in a killer grip.

The concrete split.

Right down the center of the bunker. The whole foundation shook like it was a little boat in a hurricane. They were all pressed up against the wall. Annabeth bit her lips harder and harder as Gwen's grip increased. The whole building was going to jerk loose of the earth. It was going to be swallowed up by the ground. It was going to crumble like a stale cookie. They were going to die.

Annabeth closed her eyes tight.

The shaking dulled. The pain dulled. She thought of Percy.

Then everything stopped.

When she opened her eyes, there was a hole in the ground. A tunnel leading into a black prospect. Gwen made a choking sound then changed it to an irritated noise. Like she'd been faced with a similar tunnel. But Annabeth had caught the fear in Gwen's choking. Gwen was afraid of the dark. A rational fear, she supposed.

The tunnel seemed to breath out at them.

Annabeth swore she heard a distant laughter.

She shivered as the ice-cold air swirled around them.

Gwen let go of them.

"Ready to go?" Gwen whispered, the confidence she'd displayed with going into the bunker was just a memory.

_**Chapter XXII: PIPER: Prime Decisions**_

She didn't want to go into the tunnel.

Piper didn't want to have anything to do with the black pit that was radiating cold and evil. She could feel it. Evil. Whatever had opened the tunnel was not good. Gaea was going to mess with them. She was going to mess them until the very last moments of Percy's life ticked by and then she would kill them. She would laugh at them while they stumbled around in the dark and then she'd kill Percy and then take them.

She backed up. She could only go about an inch farther back but she took it. She got as far away from the tunnel as she could. Gwen and Annabeth were on their knees, rooting through their backpacks.

"Is there another way?" Piper asked hopefully, not wanting to sound like a chicken but not wanting to stand anywhere near the hole much less journey _into_ it. She looked at the open door hopefully. Outside, the sun was setting. Casting long, dark shadows into the already dim bunker.

As if Gaea was listening to her, the earth gave a little tremor and a slab of concrete floor jerked up. The heavy bunker door slammed shut. They were thrown into absolute blackness. There was a scuffling sound and a small beam of light jerked the room into a hazy cavern of shadows and unknown. Gwen's eyes seemed big, but it was probably just the sudden light. Gwen couldn't possibly be scared.

That would make the danger seem much too real.

Piper hugged herself and tried to suppress a shiver. She pulled of her backpack and rummaged in the dark until her fingers found the flashlight Gwen had bought. She pulled it out eagerly and flipped it on. Two beams of light. She pulled on her backpack. Three. Annabeth's joined Gwen and Piper's.

Then they all turned their lights to the tunnel.

The walls were compacted dirt. Roots dangled from the ceiling like dead party streamers. Another gust of foul, stale breath that felt like it had come from Antarctica blew out at them. Piper's hair blew back. She wanted to go and wash her hair right then and there. Get the evil feeling off her skin. It was like evil was a tangible thing. Like it was a smoke or goo that was crawling out of the open mouth of the earth. Like if it stayed on Piper too long, it may start to influence her behaviors.

She glanced at Gwen and Annabeth's faces. The shadows were heavy on both their faces. It made light crinkles seem deep and dark. It showed heavy lines that would eventually mark their faces. But their expression was the same: determination. They were going into the pit of Gaea no matter what. It didn't matter if Gaea just messed with them the entire time. They knew it was a trap. They knew and they were willing to try anyway. To die trying to save Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon.

She wondered if anyone would ever do that for her. Piper wondered if Jason would ever do that. If his face would hold the determination Gwen and Annabeth's held at that very moment.

Grim-faced, Gwen took the first step onto the hard ground. It squished like mud under her bare feet. Goosebumps rose on Piper's arms. She wanted Gwen to get out of the deceptive mush. Before it was too late. Before it swallowed Gwen whole.

Gwen took another step into the cave and brushed some roots out of her way. Annabeth took the next step. She crinkled her nose when the mud seemed to wrap around her sneakers. As if the only thing she was worried about was how she would get the mud out when everything was over. She took another step and breathed out. They turned to look at Piper. Piper felt her muscles begin to seize up.

She couldn't go. She just couldn't. They expected her to step into Gaea's lair? Maybe this was even Gaea's mouth. Maybe she was swallowing them, letting them be slowly digested for three days. Maybe she would suck Percy into the ground on his last minutes of life and let them watch him die. She hardly knew the guy, why should she try to save him?

Piper laid one hand flat against the cool wall behind her.

"You don't have to come." Gwen finally said in her smooth voice.

Stay. The thought was almost comforting. But stay in a dark place in front of a dark hole? Stay and know she left her companions? Stay and know Gaea was watching her? Stay and know she did nothing? Stay and be a coward? She looked at the girls.

Annabeth's intense gray eyes.

Gwen's blazing green eyes. Just like Percy's.

Piper had seen Percy. He was a guy who was quick to smile and faster to make a silly mistake and joke about it. He could be serious and he'd waved at Piper once. He was a nice guy that deserved to be saved. Thinking back to a goofy grin he'd given Annabeth, she wanted to save him. It didn't matter she was facing the impossible.

What mattered was trying. Die trying. Die saving a hero.

That was the biggest and most honorable sacrifice Piper could think of. Her hand left the wall's steady comfort and she walked into the tunnel. The hard dirt gave away and tried to suck her feet in. She fought against it.

She wouldn't be daunted. She wouldn't be afraid. Okay, screw afraid. She wouldn't give up. She would save Percy. No, _they_ would save Percy. Because they were demigods and what was right triumphed.

They walked a couple more steps into the tunnel, Piper getting happier and happier for the new ski jacket her father had sent her for Christmas. Then the ground rippled and the entrance to the cave closed up. It was like it was never there to start with.

"So," Annabeth said, her voice echoing and bouncing around the walls, returning to them distorted, "We play by Gaea's rules now."

"Let the games begin." Gwen attempted a brave smile.

Gaea was listening.

_**Chapter XXIII: GUINEVERE: Shut Up!**_

She really needed to learn when was a prime time to make a comment and when was a good time to just shut the heck up. They didn't get to take another step after Gwen had said "Let the games begin". The earth had begun to shake like it was under a subway train. Which, hey, you never know, could be possible, but made Gwen worried none the less. Because if they were under a subway, then Gaea could move their little tunnel without them being aware of it. And if they weren't, they were going to die from disorientation or something like that from being shaken too violently.

Disorientation wasn't a sickness, though. That could pose a problem as to dying by it. You never know though.

"What do we do!" Piper yelled, holding onto Gwen's arm.

"Run!" Gwen decided. They might as well push forward. She knew Gaea was going to mess with them. She had just known it. It was one of those inevitable truths that you denied until it came the time when the thing you'd been denying happened. And you really weren't surprised in the least when it did because you knew it was coming the entire time you were thinking "No, it's not, no, it's not".

"That's probably not the smartest idea!" Annabeth yelled. But she grabbed Gwen's other arm and ran with them.

"What gave you the idea that smart and me went together?" Gwen yelled back, grimacing as the mud clung to her feet. It was trying to trip her up. Then came the fun part.

The ground dipped and curled under their feet. It was like they were trampling on a huge serpent that was none too happy to have found them on his back. It was like a slip-n-slide had been filled with a load a very irritable bees and wasps. The ground was possessed and trying to kill them. Normally, that's not a normal thing.

But, then again, what was normal to a demigod?

Annabeth pulled Gwen to the side of the tunnel. Gwen pulled Piper with them. They were pressed against the wall, the solid waves of earth unable to reach them. The walls pushed out. Gwen let go of Annabeth and Piper and dug her nails into the wall. Her flashlight fell out of her hand. It bounced away, down the tunnel. A hopeless beacon waving for help that would never come.

"Mudslide!" Annabeth shrieked.

Gwen looked past Annabeth and instantly wished she hadn't.

It was a mudslide. Literally a mudslide. The ground stopped writhing under their feet and changed into a flat slope. No, drop. The ground was a few degrees short of Straight Down to Splat. Annabeth could probably tell her how many degrees.

The mud caught up to them. They were ripped from the wall. Her backpack was snatched off of her back. Gwen grabbed Piper's wrist and Annabeth's shirt. Annabeth found her hand. And they were swept away.

Gwen had never felt so hopeless. It was liquid earth. It was like swimming, so she should be able to do it. But she couldn't. Every pebble or clod of mud was pushing her down. For the first time in her life, she felt the panic of drowning.

"STAY TOGETHER!" She bellowed, dirt filling her mouth. "Anna-" she choked on the dirt. She could feel Piper's hand in her's. She could feel Annabeth's hand in her's. She could feel the mud squeezing in between the cracks of their hands, fighting to tear them part. She could feel every sharp stone grating against her exposed skin and clothes. She could feel Annabeth fighting against the current. She could feel their hands beginning to slip. She was loosing Annabeth to the mudslide.

"Stop-" more mud and dirt. She couldn't speak. She could hardly breathe. When Gwen found Gaea, she would give her a fat lip. That seemed to be the only solid plan she could formulate at the moment. Which was kind of sad since she was trying to swim against a current of mud and all she could really plan was that she was going to punch a really powerful earth lady. Go Gwen.

There was a dull sound of bronze grating against it's leather sheath and then Annabeth jerked to a stop. Gwen yelled as her body was jerked in two different directions before the mud won. Annabeth's hand slipped out of Gwen's. Gwen and Piper went spiraling down.

"SHIRT!" Gwen bellowed at Piper. Somehow, the daughter of Venus understood and grabbed onto Gwen's shirt. She could feel Piper's fingers squish the mud on her shirt. Gwen flicked her freed wrists and instead of clashing them together, sank them into the ground.

Annabeth came sailing down to them, her knife thick with mud. She grabbed Gwen's shirt too. Rip. She heard it. Past the roaring mud waves. The mud eagerly attacked her partially exposed back.

The earth pushed her swords out. They free-falled until Gwen spun her swords around to a better position and sank them back into "solid" ground. Riiiip. She gritted her teeth as the few stones and mud clung to more of her back.

The mud rose up and covered her face. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't see. Gwen held on to her swords for dear life. She could feel them slipping out of the earth. She could feel Annabeth and Piper dangling, ripping her shirt. Then the mud stopped.

It stopped.

Gwen gasped, inhaling the dusty air with relish. Then Gaea shoved Gwen's swords out of her territory. The drop fixed to straight edge. Gwen flicked her swords back into rings and they hit the pile of mud.

They fought up and out of it.

Somehow, Piper still had her flashlight. Annabeth put her knife up. Gwen looked back to her back. Almost the entire back had been ripped off. She glared at Annabeth and Piper.

"Give me one of your spare shirts." she demanded, spinning Annabeth around and unzipping her backpack.

"We've hardly started and you already need a new T-shirt." Annabeth looked over her shoulder. Gwen wrinkled her nose at her.

"We hardly got three steps into this place before all Hell broke loose." Gwen snapped, pulling off her ruined shirt and replacing it with her new one. She was in the middle of trying to find the arm holes when the ground began to shiver violently again.

_Not again. _Gwen thought dejectedly. Then the ground fell out from under them.

She really had to work on shutting up.

_**Chapter XXIV: ANNABETH: Shish-ka-Gwen**_

They went down.

Annabeth was going to kill Gwen once they stopped falling. The ground evened out fairy fast though. Piper slammed into Annabeth's back. Annabeth tumbled forward, doing unpleasant somersaults, when someone grabbed the back of her shirt. She twisted around, about to thank the person and get to her feet, when her foot touched nothing.

Annabeth recoiled onto the ledge, clinging to her savior's wrists. It was about a thirty foot drop down. Onto clay spikes that looked plenty sharp. Annabeth swallowed hard. She looked up but Gwen wasn't paying any attention to her. She was looking down. Down past the Spikes of Death.

Annabeth followed her gaze. Past the field of spikes was a level ledge. There was a tunnel there. Above the entrance was a mud carving of the word XETI. No, EXIT. It was just missing color otherwise it would look just like an exit sign in a building.

"She's just messing with us." Piper growled, walking up to the edge and looking down at Annabeth and Gwen.

"We know." Gwen answered, her voice trying to hide controlled fury.

"She's never going to let us get to her." Piper continued.

"You never know." Gwen replied. Annabeth was silent.

"What are we even doing down here!"

"We're going to try to bargain." Gwen answered flatly.

"Good luck with that." Piper muttered, crossing her arms. Gwen stood up slowly, her eyes never leaving Piper's. Annabeth could feel the intensity radiating from them. Piper took a nervous step back.

"Thanks." Gwen said. "We're here to save Percy. Don't you guys _dare _loose hope." Then she turned her gaze to Annabeth. "Stand up!" she ordered, her voice snapping into a military commander's voice. Her face was straight, hard, calculating. The face of someone who had seen many fights. The face of a person who had fought for everything they had. The face of a person who was determined to keep their place. The face of someone who demanded you to listen to them.

Annabeth scrambled to her feet.

"Listen here, _dearies," _Gwen snapped at them, looking sharply from Piper to Annabeth, "Let me remind you why we are here. We are here to try to save my big brother. We are here to try to bargain with Gaea, Mother Earth. When you signed up for this quest, you knew it was going to be hard. We all knew on some level that we would just be toys for Gaea while we tromped around in her realm. We knew we only had one chance. We knew that we might not see her. We knew we were going on a quest to set things straight."

"What do you mean 'set things straight'?" Piper whispered, looking timid and ashamed. Annabeth felt dull and fuzzy minded, her mind whirling with Gwen's words, trying to register them all at once.

"It was supposed to be me who got this. It was my blood. It was my idea to give her the coin. I said we should. It was my risk to take. It was my life to bargain with and Percy took the fall for it because Gaea's too stupid to get the right twin."

The earth shook angrily.

"Deal with it!" Gwen yelled at the ground. Piper's flashlight shook in her hand.

"If it was your blood, Percy couldn't have gotten hurt." Annabeth finally said logically, "You aren't identical, so you can't have the same DNA. She's using something else to control Percy."

"No she's not!" Gwen seemed close to the breaking point. "We're _identical _twins. Same DNA."

"_That's not possible." _Annabeth told her slowly. "You're a girl, which means X and X chromosomes. Percy's a guy which means X and Y chromosomes. You can't be identical. You're fraternal look-a-likes."

"I'll tell you what's not possible," Gwen snapped at her, "This world. This place. The gods. Monsters. Yet here it all is. Pretty real. Pretty possible. The gods have ways with messing with things. I'm sorry if my DNA doesn't fit into your perfect realm of 'possibilities' but it's the truth. We're identical. Same blood. Same person. Two halves of a whole."

She sighed heavily.

"I'm sorry. Look, just get the rope."

Annabeth nodded her head.

She unzipped her backpack and yanked out the rope.

"Okay, give it to me."

Realization as to what Gwen was planning hit Annabeth suddenly. She narrowed her eyes at Gwen and held the rope tighter to her chest.

"Gwen, are you planning on scaling down this cliff? What are you going to tie down the rope with? Gaea will just let the rock go when we're halfway down."

"Don't be stupid." Gwen took one end of the rope. Annabeth let go and put her hands on her hips.

"Excuse me?" she said. She tried to grab the rope again but Gwen had it securely in her clutches.

"Climb down, Blondie." Gwen demanded, throwing one end of the rope down the cliff. "I'm holding the rope."

"I don't think so. Knowing you, you'll say something and piss Gaea off and we'll all die. I'll stay up and you climb down."

"Wait," Piper interjected, "We're climbing _into _the spikes?"

"We can climb where they overlap. It will be a careful climb." Gwen waved her off like it was a minor difficulty. "Listen, Smarts, I'm the strongest and the stupidest, so I'll be the one to hold you guys up and I'll be the one who jumps off the cliff."

"JUMP OFF A CLIFF?" Piper demanded. "What the heck do you mean?"

"Pretty self-explanatory, Piper." Annabeth waved her off this time, "Gwen, no one is jumping off this cliff. If you do, you'll hit the spikes and get skewered. I'm not interesting in Shish-ka-Gwen."

"Don't be a pessimist," Gwen rolled her eyes, "How else are we going to get down?"

"Who said we had to go down?" Annabeth snapped back before she thought. Gwen didn't answer. She threw her hands out to the tunnel entrance with the big, ugly, clay EXIT sign.

"We have to play by Gaea's rules to save Percy. We're mice in a maze for now."

"Deaf, blind, and senseless mice in a digital maze that will have no qualms to just kill us." Annabeth replied.

"That's the spirit, Blondie, now climb down!" Gwen threw the other end of the rope down. "Piper, down."

Piper glanced at the spikes then at Gwen's "do-what-I-say-or-else" face and picked up the rope. She tugged on it then leaned over the cliff backwards and began to carefully climb down. Annabeth looked at Gwen and opened her mouth to say she should really rethink jumping off a cliff and into a mountain of spikes, but Gwen cut her off.

"I know what I'm doing." she sounded confident enough but her face was one Annabeth had seen on Percy before. A look that said, "I'll act like I know what to do, but I really have no clue". She decided to blame their father. She grabbed the rope, glanced at Gwen, and began down. Percy had come out of all his stupid ideas alive, so she'd give Gwen the same chance to either enjoy the perks of luck or just go splat.

They got down okay. Gwen slipped a little and got Piper yelling at her, but they lived. Then Gwen got to the edge and dropped her rope down. Annabeth's heart began to pound. Because in that moment, when Gwen was standing on the edge, arms out, ready to jump down like the idiot she and her brother were, she looked just like Percy.

Her long pony tail was behind her back so it didn't look it was there. She looked like Percy with cropped hair. Her skin was the same tone. Her tan shorts were ones that she'd probably kidnapped from him. Her green eyes were sparkling with a light that said "here goes nothing". Then she jumped off.

There was a screech of bronze and Gwen's swords were in the cliff. She slid down fast, the dirt was like butter. Gaea wasn't going to let Gwen play. Annabeth grabbed the rope at her feet and tied a loop in it. She threw it over one of the spikes and wrapped her hands in her end. And pulled back.

Gwen's feet hit the rope. She yanked her swords out of the cliff. And there she was, looking like a tight-rope trainee, three feet off the ground, swords out to give her balance. She looked up from the rope that she was wobbling on and grinned. She closed her eyes and gave Annabeth the toothiest grin ever.

There was a crack and Gwen fell. She fell in between the spikes. Perfectly unharmed. The end of the rope and the top of a very nasty looking spike was in her lap. Annabeth sighed in relief and threw the other end of the rope at her.

"Happy now?" she asked, "You jumped off a cliff, you should be pretty satisfied with yourself. Now, stop fooling around." Annabeth put her hands on two spikes, just below the sharp parts, and began to pick her way through the uneven ground.

"Come on, Piper, before Genius there walks into another trap." Gwen said. Annabeth spun around in the field of spikes as fast as she could.

"What do you mean again?" she snapped, "_You're _the one who keeps pissing Gaea off."

"Let's not talk while we dance over Spike Village here, please?" Piper begged, trying to balance and looking at the spikes. "Gwen, I'm sorry, but you have a way with Gaea that is not good."

Gwen stuck her nose in the air and followed them.

"Gwen," Annabeth shook her head as she started to turn back around, "Why are you bringing that spike head with you?"

"Well, Annabeth," Gwen said in a calm, casual voice, "You see, I've decided we might need this rope but Gaea's friendly spike here doesn't want to let it go."

Annabeth felt the spikes under her hands shiver at the word "friendly". She froze.

"Gwen..." she said in a warning tone.

"I didn't say anything!"

"RUN!" Annabeth yelled. The spikes were vibrating like someone had knocked them up with steroids. Lots and lots of steroids. Now they were having a seizure.

"This is really hard!" Piper yelled from behind.

The end was in sight though. They could make it. They could make it. They could make it.

"You're doing great, Piper! Just think forward!" Gwen yelled.

Then the spikes shot into the ground.

"FASTER!" Gwen bellowed, her voice echoing in the cavern. Annabeth knew the spikes were going to come back up in a second. Any second. Needle thin and sharper than ever. Any second they were going to come up and get them. They wouldn't miss. They would get them this time.

Annabeth should have been over the field if the spikes hadn't been retractable. But she knew they would come back-all the way up to the exit marked door.

"We made it!" Piper gasped.

"Keep running!" Annabeth yelled behind her, "HURRY!" She hesitated for the split second of a split second and grabbed Piper's jacket and jerked her through the tunnel entrance. There was a clatter as Piper's flashlight fell to the ground. Gwen was next to Annabeth, shoving her in-then the spikes flew. They sky-rocketed up, scaling ten feet easily.

There was the sound of breaking glass.

Then there was only black.

_**Chapter XXV: PIPER: **_

It was black enough to make the color black look bright. There was a snapping sound and then there was red light.

"You found a flare." Piper said. Annabeth nodded her head. Her eyes were red in the light. Piper looked around. They were on a cliff that looked into a seemingly bottomless abyss. They were trapped.

"Missed us by a mile." Gwen muttered, tapping the needle-thin, rock spikies. Piper sighed hard.

"You're going to sic Gaea on us again." Piper growled.

Gwen spun around to glare at them. Her green eyes looked odd in the red light. Then Piper realized something. Gwen was scared. Gwen was mad. Gwen was venting by making cocky comments to make herself feel better and try to dumb down the situation to make it easier to handle. Or she was just letting a little of her personality out. Piper wondered if Percy was prone to stupid comments too.

"That's all she does isn't it? Attack us? Has she got nothing better to do?" Gwen asked, her voice getting louder.

"Shut. Up. Gwen." Annabeth said tightly.

Gwen wasn't done though. She took a couple steps toward the abyss.

"Get a life!" Gwen yelled into the pit.

Gaea didn't approve. The ground rocked and Gwen spun around. The earth under her crumbled. She grabbed the dirt but for once it wasn't mud. It was hard as rock.

"GWEN!" Piper and Annabeth screamed. They both leapt forward.

But Gwen was gone.

GUINEVERE:

Gwen screamed as she fell. It wasn't that she was afraid. She was terrified. But she wasn't screaming because of that. As she fell through the empty, black air, she saw flashes of red eyes. Red eyes everywhere. It had gotten worse and worse as the tunnels and caves had gotten darker. But now it was horrible.

Then there was suddenly a red brilliance somewhere in the abyss. That's what had made her scream. She closed her eyes tightly. _Stupid Greeks, _she thought darkly as she fell.

She'd been getting worse the longer she'd been with them. With Percy, it was just like a couple knots had been loosened. There was a possibility she was alive. That she was a person deep down in her Roman shell. But with the few more Greeks, she'd felt herself begging to be let out.

She'd fought it, she'd thought hard about her Roman training. But it had hardly taken anything for her to mess up alone with them. It had been subtle. She hadn't really known it was happening until it was too late. Gwen supposed Percy had been loosening her up all the months...the five more Greeks were just a sledge hammer to her breaking surface.

A whole lot of good it did her.

She had to regain her self-control. She had to remember her Roman training. Gwen had to fight against herself. She guessed she had just been aching to get out for so many years...everything came spilling out. Another emotional puking session. Great. She was having more and more of those recently. _Stupid Greeks. _She snapped at herself again.

It was too late anyway.

She was dead.

Maybe she'd starve to death before she got to the bottom. But she'd die either way.

She opened her eyes again.

Red. Red. Red.

She screamed again.

Then she stopped falling.

Everything was bright. As if a tiny sun was holding her. It was hot enough. She looked up into big, black eyes. The creature was a type of bird. It was long necked and wide-winged. It looked like a cross between a peacock and an eagle. Its colors however were crimson red. It's down was gold. It weaved its head around to look at her better. It's wide wings beat slowly and rhythmically.

"_So long have I waited for a savior. It seems I am the savior, however. I will return you to your companions. I am one of them now." _Its voice was pure music. Gwen was entranced.

"Who-who are you?" Gwen sputtered, her arms where the bird's claws were wrapped around them were burning. Maybe she would get a chance to balance out her Greek and Roman war. She had certainly been an idiot fit for a Greek.

"_I am a Phoenix." _

"I'm a demigod. Welcome to the quest." Gwen replied.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter XXVI: ANNABETH: Dinner and a Question**_

Annabeth thought Gwen was gone forever. So when Gwen and a Phoenix came flying back out of the abyss, she screamed and fell over. Just normal occurrences in demigod life that kept a half-blood on their toes. Permanently.

"GWEN!" Piper yelled, "What's that?"

"It's a Phoenix." Gwen explained, her voice stiff with Roman tones. Annabeth quickly picked herself up.

"What's a Phoenix doing down here?" she looked at the bird suspiciously. Birds equaled air. Not deep-in-the-ground. Maybe Gaea had captured him. But was she really that conscious already? And Annabeth had read that Phoenixes were not an easy catch. They were smart creatures that were said to be able to sense traps.

"What are you doing down here?" the Phoenix replied in a steady, musical voice. It was like pure music that her brain managed to translate-barely. The bird's voice was garbled and hard to understand. But beautiful and mystical none-the-less. Still, it _spoke_.

She hadn't read anything about them being able to speak.

"Annabeth, he's not carrying bombs..." Gwen began but she cleared her throat and sat down, her face rearranging into a seemingly flawless Roman mask. _Oh no, _she thought. Was Gwen going to go completely the opposite on her now? Was she going to be really reckless and uncontrolled one moment and then a total empty shell-a total Roman-another?

"He is going to join our quest." Gwen said, annunciating every syllable. Annabeth hated it when the Romans went all monotone. The Phoenix looked pretty happy to be sitting on Gwen's shoulder.

"He's better than our flare." Piper replied, starting to sit down. She glanced at the edge and moved closer to the wall then sat down. Annabeth really couldn't argue with that. Her flare was already dying but she couldn't really tell because the Phoenix was like a miniature star. A warm glow that felt really good since Annabeth hadn't told Gwen to buy a jacket. She wondered how cold Gwen was in her T-shirt, shorts, and bare feet.

"_Anything's _better than your" Gwen cleared her throat, "flare." she ended in a stiff voice. Past Gwen's Roman mask, Annabeth could see the frustration rising in her eyes.

"How did you get down here?" Annabeth asked the bird.

"Captured! Tricked! Stolen! Take your pick! What about you silly fellows?" The bird rustled its wings and accidentally smacked Gwen in the head. Gwen's mask didn't ripple.

"Willingly walked in." Piper grumbled.

"Seriously? Are you pulling my feathers?" the bird looked at them all incredulously. "What possessed you to do a stupid thing like that?"

"We have to save my boyfriend." Annabeth answered.

"So that's the quest. Save love." the bird bobbed its head knowingly.

"To get back on the quest," Piper said, tapping on the ground, "What's Gaea doing? Do we wait for her next obstacle? Do we have to scale down this thing?"

"I don't know." Annabeth sighed, sitting down next to her. She thought about a quest a couple years ago. It had been _her _quest. She had waited for years to finally get it. She had thought and studied and worked sleepless nights trying to prepare. She had been so excited. She would be able to lead her first quest. She would be able to prove herself.

But when it came to being there, nothing went right. She had tried to study for something that was alive. That existed solely to make sure no one would get to the end. It couldn't be reasoned or puzzled out. Annabeth couldn't use her skills to get through.

It was just like that. A deja vu. A maze Annabeth couldn't think her way out of. Gaea was messing with them, trying to kill them. Daedalus's Labyrinth was a prison that loved to mix unfortunate souls up enough until they died. The Labyrinth could be mastered by a magic string or a mortal with the sight. Maybe there was a way around Gaea's tricks.

But Gaea wouldn't leave a loop hole like that, would she? This wasn't a prison created for mistakes or a hideaway for a cursed Athena child. It was a personalized playground for them. Solely for Annabeth, Gwen, and Piper. It was a place where Gaea could watch them go insane or die. Or both.

"How about we eat?" Gwen offered quietly.

"We brought _food? _Actual nutritious stuff like a sandwich or an apple?" Piper asked.

"Have faith, Piper." Gwen continued in her cautious, quiet tones, "You don't think I would set us on a three day journey without food do you? I've already made that mistake once. We hardly ate and we were up in the fresh air where you could pop into a Sonic or Burger King."

"You brought _food?" _Piper asked again.

Gwen rolled her eyes and pointed to Annabeth. Annabeth barely got her backpack off before Piper was zipping it open. Annabeth joined her eagerly. There were several sandwiches, wrapped tightly with plastic wrap and foil and secured in a plastic bag. Annabeth tossed Gwen and the Phoenix a sandwich each then grabbed one herself. There were several water bottles too. Annabeth grinned at Gwen.

Regardless to the firm wrapping, some of Gaea's dirt had still wriggled into the sandwich. It was good anyway. Annabeth hardly noticed the grains of sand and the bitter dirt aftertaste. So all was pretty good. The water was a bit of an issue until Gwen took her finger and swirled it around in the drink. It was sweet then. Like well-water. With a slight salty tang that might have bothered her if she hadn't been so thirsty.

Gwen started to laugh at her but changed it into a cough. The routine Roman cover up. Annabeth sighed and looked past the little ring of light the Phoenix was giving off. Past the warm borders was Gaea. Waiting. Watching. Listening. A maze Annabeth couldn't puzzle out.

Her eyes fell on Gwen's tight face.

A maze she couldn't puzzle out.

_**Chapter XXVII: PIPER: A Fiery Vision**_

She was full and ready to sleep. She knew it wasn't wise to actually fall asleep, so she laid on her back, thinking, resting her muscles. She wished she could say everyone was fairy peaceful and calm. But it wasn't true. Gwen was fighting off some inner battle by going total Roman and acting like a hermit crab. Annabeth was either staring off into the black pit of despair or looking over Gwen like she was a complicated code just waiting to be cracked and read. Even the Phoenix seemed a little uptight. It's eyes were always looking around the blanket of black.

Piper might have been pretty relaxed if the ground would stop shaking. It was slight. As if it was just breathing calm, even, deep breaths, but it was there. And she knew it meant Gaea was there.

Gaea was taking a little nap so she could try to rouse herself into a farther state of consciousness. So she could steal more of Percy Jackson's energy. So she could be ready for another full session of _Watch the Demigods Go Mad. _A show hosted by Gaea and lived out by Piper, Annabeth, and Gwen.

Everyone knew it.

No one wanted to say it out loud.

Maybe it would be confirming the inevitable.

Piper sighed and looked up at the black ceiling. She wished she could see the stars in the black hole of death they'd stumbled into.

"What's your name?" she asked suddenly. She looked at the Phoenix who blinked slowly at her. Slowly, he cocked his head to one side.

"My name?" he asked in his lovely but hard to understand tones.

"Yes. I know everyone else's names." she replied, looking back to the ceiling, imagining twinkling lights on the dark canvas above her.

"I am Phaeton. One of Helios's favorite Phoenixes."

Piper thought about that. When she and her father had been studying hard core about Greek myths, she vaguely remembered something about Phoenixes. It was something about how the sun god Helios liked to stop and watch the Phoenixes sometimes.

"When was the last time you saw Helios?" Annabeth asked, always the suspicious one.

"Long ago. It was the last day I saw the sun, too." Phaeton replied sadly. He ruffled his wings and smacked Gwen in the nose pretty hard. Gwen didn't appear to have felt it.

"Gaea's kept you hostage that long?" Piper asked, feeling sad. Phoenixes were reborn from their ashes, so time wasn't a big issue with them. To have one say they'd been trapped for so long...they really meant it. Phaeton could mean a decade or two. Or he could mean a couple thousand years.

"No," Phaeton told her, "I stumbled into the Labyrinth of Daedalus. When it collapsed a couple years ago, I had thought I was free-but I couldn't get out fast enough. The earth swallowed me back up. Gaea became aware of my presence and I became her prisoner. I was free no more than a minute before I was once again captured."

She decided to change the subject.

"I've heard the name Phaeton before. Where, though?" Piper asked quietly to the bird, hoping he might open up a little bit.

"I have no idea." Had the bird's voice turned a little icy or was it just Piper's imagination? "Sleep." Phaeton insisted. "Sleep while Gaea sleeps. Sleep now or you shall get none and will be forced to face her wrath without energy."

Annabeth and Gwen nodded and laid down. Piper was wide awake now though. She looked at Phaeton. The bird backed away from her wearily.

"You're hiding something." she whispered. "Tell me what it is." Piper used her best charmspeak voice. The bird's eyes half-closed and he took a step closer to her, his beak opening.

"Piper, leave him alone. Get to sleep or you won't be good for us when our personal Gaea alarm goes off." Gwen yawned. Phaeton shook his head and hopped away from Piper, hiding behind Gwen.

Piper's mouth twisted in frustration. She wished she could remember who his name-sake was. But the myth was jumping just out of her reach. Last time she couldn't remember who a Greek myth was, it was Medea and she wasn't the most friendly individual to mess with.

Piper breathed evenly. It was said that if you went to sleep with a problem, you'd wake up with a solution. It probably came from demigods. Demigod dreams, telling you hints...

_She was high in the sky. Her hands were aching. Thick reigns dug into them. In front of her were four bright horses made of pure fire. They seemed to know Piper wasn't strong enough to control them. She would go high and the world below her would become covered in frost. She would go very low and trees would catch fire. She couldn't stop it though. She didn't know how. Suddenly there was an electrical current buzzing though the air. A bolt of lightning flew out of the clouds and hit Piper in the chest. And she fell out of the chariot. Out and towards the earth below. She hit the ocean but there was nothing cool about it. She was on fire. And she was going to die. She was lost._

_A Phoenix screamed in her head._

She jerked awake. Someone was shaking her. No. Gaea was.

_**Chapter XXVIII: GUINEVERE: Suicidal Cliff Diving Equals a Bad Idea**_

When the shaking began, she was on her feet in an instant. Annabeth was next to her and Phaeton was in the air, hissing a lovely musical tone at the rumbling dirt. Piper shook her head and jumped up, a wild look in eyes. Gwen wondered if she'd been dreaming. No, she knew Piper had been dreaming. The look was too familiar. Gwen wondered _what _Piper had been dreaming.

"Gwen!" Annabeth snapped at her in an ordering tone, "Stay away from the edge! We need Phaeton's light and you can't fly."

She started to nod obediently when Annabeth's words sunk in. She smacked her forehead hard. How could she be so _stupid? _Surely she would have remembered a few minutes after her panicking and resolution making. Her previous quest with Percy and Bianca had left her more in control, full of questions, and the ability to change into a Pegasus (courtesy of Pasiphaë). So she could have flown out of harm's way.

"Ugh." she mumbled, "Ugh!" she tried to pick up her feet but Gaea was being stubborn. "Let. Me. Go!" she hissed at the mud. It popped a big bubble under her feet and continued to try to eat her ankles. "Okay, I'm ready to go. Annabeth, do you see anyway out?"

Annabeth shook her head, a fearful look in her eyes.

"Do you think she's gotten bored with us?" Piper whispered, "Do you think she'll just collapse this whole place on us?"

"The question is, where is this whole place." Gwen whispered back to her. She glanced at Annabeth who was glaring at her. "Uh, let's focus on the positive though, Pipe, 'kay?"

"Sure-"

"Shh!" Annabeth hissed at them, wiggling out of the mud.

"What?" Gwen whispered, looking around. Phaeton landed on her shoulder. He squeezed her shoulder. Too tight. His claws dug into her skin. Her purple shirt gained a couple red smears.

"Shut up! Can't you hear that?" Annabeth demanded, hurrying forward. There was a skinny pathway on the cliff side. Gwen knew it hadn't been there last night. It put the Oracle's trail to shame. There was only about three inches to toe around on.

"Annabeth! Don't!" Gwen hurried after her, fighting against the persistent mud. Annabeth was already on the trail, hugging the wall.

"Can't you hear it!" Annabeth insisted, "Someone's crying! We have to help them!"

Then Gwen heard it.

The low, awful wail of pure misery. Gwen froze at the mouth of the trail. Shivers and chills were tangoing up her spine. She wasn't really partial to walking on the three inch wide cliff overhang either but there was something wrong. There was something wrong with the voice. There was a danger that her Roman training was warning her about. She knew she couldn't just let Annabeth go after the voice though.

She hugged the wall. Mud slid down onto her cheek.

"Annabeth! Come back!" she called, worry beginning to slip out of her voice. "There's something wrong with the voice! Please!"

"Of course there's something wrong." Annabeth replied. She was almost to the ledge. A silhouette of a person was hunched over a rock. "They're down here all alone."

"No! Annabeth!" Gwen begged. Annabeth made it onto the ledge. Gwen a moment behind her. She grabbed Annabeth's arm firmly and spun her away from the wailing figure. "There's something not _human _about it."

Annabeth's eyes narrowed slightly and her head cocked slightly. Piper stumbled into Gwen's back. The figure turned a little towards them.

"What do you mean?" Annabeth whispered.

"Come weep with me!" the person wailed at them.

"Sorry, we have to go." Gwen said in a bit of a harsh tone.

"Come wail with me!" the person demanded, turning even more towards them. Gwen stumbled back, fear beginning to claw up her throat. The feeling that the figure wasn't human was overpowering.

"What's wrong with her?" Piper whispered.

"It." Gwen whispered back.

"MISERY!" the woman bellowed, spinning around. The cliff behind them crumbled into oblivion. The woman had her hands out in claws, her mouth wide.

They all jumped back even more and screamed.

The woman's rag of a dress was just good enough to sufficiently hide her private body parts. Her skin was a pale, sickly green. Her eyes were a Devil red and weeping. Her cheeks were bloody with claw marks from her digging her fingers into them. Her hair was gray and messy and dusty. Her teeth were much too sharp and her nails much too long.

"MISERY!" she screamed again. "Wail with me! Weep with me!"

"Taste my bronze!" Gwen answered in calm tones, stepping forward and ripping out her swords. The creature scrunched away from her, hissing the whole way.

"How dare you!" she screamed at Gwen. Annabeth and Piper jerked out their knifes. The creature's lip curled in disgust. "I am Akhlys! Demon of misery! You will join me, demigods! Or die!"

"We'll see you in Hades first." Piper answered.

"So be it." Akhlys sneered.

She snapped her fingers together.

Gwen felt Annabeth and Piper's knives begin to droop.

"We're never going to save Percy. We're never going to see him again." Annabeth said in a defeated voice. "I'm never going to hear his obnoxious laugh or listen to another smart remark from his too-big mouth."

Annabeth burst into tears. Piper sank to her knees.

"We're going to die down here." Piper replied, nodding her head.

Akhlys's sneer widened and she charged at them with her nails ready and her mouth wide.

"What's wrong with you guys!" Gwen yelled at them. Her necklace was cool on her neck.

"Try again." she snapped at Akhlys. The demon hesitated and snarled again. "I'm protected by my father." Gwen tapped her seaweed woven necklace. The crab charm Percy had given her for their birthday was flat out cold. She raked her swords across each other.

"It's hopeless." Annabeth moaned.

Gwen gritted her teeth together and stepped towards the demon. She sneered at Gwen.

"You think you can beat me?" Akhlys demanded. "I am the demon of misery!"

Gwen took an experimental swipe at the demon. She snarled and stumbled back.

"I can beat you." Gwen answered, a small smile curling her lips. The demon had no way to stay away from Gwen's swords. She could only duck out of the way. And they both knew that wouldn't last any time at all.

"Really, dear?" Akhlys smiled widely. _Oh, no,_ Gwen thought. "Were you planning on doing that with or without your friends?"

The demon snapped her fingers together.

"I can't live like this!" Annabeth screamed, holding her head in between her hands.

"We're going to die anyway! Why not end the suffering now?" Piper jumped to her feet.

They grabbed each other's hands.

And jumped off the edge of the cliff.

"NO!" Gwen yelled, "Phaeton!" she spun around entirely. Phaeton was diving down after them. But Gwen didn't know how much he could lift. She flicked her wrists, her mind going blank, time slowing down, and ran for the edge.

She smashed into rock out of nowhere. Something was digging its claws into her arms and back. She rolled over on top of Akhlys. The hag snarled viciously and ripped at Gwen's hair. She rolled again but Akhlys had her nails deep in Gwen's back.

"Get off of me!" she screamed, tears burning her eyes. She flicked one of her wrists and slashed backwards.

There was a screech and a hiss and Gwen was covered in gross yellow sulfur-smelling monster dust. Gwen jumped to her feet. The dust was already collecting, trying to reform.

She spun around. She couldn't worry about that right now.

She put her sword up, spread her arms out wide, and leapt into the empty air. There was a slight pain and then she wasn't falling anymore.

_**Chapter XXIX: ANNABETH: Date With Dirt**_

Annabeth had a pretty fair idea why she jumped off the cliff. She had felt horrible. Hopeless. Miserable. It was like she had no control, every dark thought or half-feeling had just come busting out of the seams, demanding that she pay attention _right now _and feel absolutely miserable _right now. _And then she'd had the snap decision to leap off the cliff to her death.

It had seemed so simple. So perfect. Die before she could feel the pain of missing Percy. She never wanted to repeat the horrible eight months of not knowing if he was alive or dead. She had been so relieved when she'd found him.

Annabeth should have known it wouldn't have lasted. Perfect things that should just didn't last. Sometimes they did. But when they came out, they were pretty rough looking in the end.

But now the solution that had been so perfect (there's that word again) was obviously been just plain stupid. Whatever Akhlys had done to her had vanished as soon as she and Piper had linked arms like school girls and skipped off the edge to a sure plummet of death.

How could Annabeth be so stupid?

She jerked to a stop in midair. Piper squealed as she kept falling and stopped suddenly and painfully. The only thing keeping Piper from continuing her plummet was a loose linked pair of sweaty hands. Annabeth gasped in fear and looked up. Phaeton was clinging to her backpack. His wings were beating urgently.

They were too heavy for him.

Above her, Gwen screamed. "Get off of me!" she yelled. There was a hiss then Annabeth felt herself drop down.

"Phaeton!" she cried, holding Piper's hand tighter. She was slipping. One of the backpack's straps had snapped. Phaeton was slowly going down instead of up.

"One of you needs to let go!" Phaeton cried.

"No!" Annabeth and Piper both yelled.

"It's one or both!" Phaeton squawked angrily. In other words, Phaeton wasn't going down with them. Annabeth tightened her grip on Piper's hand even more. Now she was pissed.

"Coward!" she yelled.

Phaeton's beak opened in surprise. His grip loosed on the backpack strap and it slipped out of his claw. Piper started to scream but was cut short. They were suddenly on the back of Pegasus. The first thing Annabeth saw was the black.

"Blackjack!" she cried. Then she saw _green. _The Pegasus didn't seem to care Annabeth had it mixed up with another.

"It's your _Gwen._" Phaeton said incredulously. "She smells like the sea still."

"_What?" _Annabeth demanded, leaning on the Pegasus's neck. Gwen's eye twinkled at her. Gwen tossed her head like it was a normal thing that happened sometimes.

"Gwen got turned into a horse?" Piper gasped. "Poor Gwen! It's okay, we'll fix you!" She patted Gwen's black flank. Gwen whinnied. She didn't seem bothered by the fact she was flying and a horse.

"That was the demon of _misery._" Annabeth said, "It couldn't have changed Gwen.

Suddenly the ground began to rumble angrily.

"Gwen!" Annabeth cried, "Find some dirt! Land! We still have to play by Gaea's rules! Land! You understand me, right?" she asked hopefully. Who knew, Gwen could only be hearing senseless gibberish.

Gwen whinnied a little irritably like "I'm not that stupid" and flew down. Phaeton's light was the only end to the black. The ground was there suddenly. Gwen screamed and dove upward. The ground chased them up until Gwen couldn't outrun it and it slammed into her hooves.

She pitched forward. Annabeth clung to Gwen's green mane and Piper clung to her. Gwen hit her knees and flipped. Annabeth and Piper flew off. Gwen screamed again then there was a growl of irritance that was definitely human. Annabeth jumped to her feet and saw Gwen as Gwen.

"You're alive!" Piper ran over to Gwen.

"I was never dead." Gwen said in an irritated voice but her face had this silly half smile that was partially flattered, partially humored. "Annabeth, would you mind using your big brain to _get me out of this mud hole?_"

Annabeth blinked and hurried over.

"Phaeton, light please!" she called.

"Gwen, are you okay?" Piper asked.

"Oh, yeah, this is perfect for my skin. I knew I was missing something in life." Gwen replied with an annoyed look. Phaeton swooped over and landed on Gwen's shoulder.

"Phaeton!" Gwen cried, looking down, her face flashing with fear and worry. She was waist deep in mud. And Phaeton wasn't helping her situation. "Get off! I'm sinking more!" Phaeton jumped off onto Piper's shoulder with an irritated musical note that was a little sour. Gwen looked up to Annabeth then looked away. She quickly cleared her throat and rearranged her face. "Do you mind?" she managed in an irritated voice.

Annabeth grabbed Gwen's hands and pulled.

"Piper, help!" she ordered. Piper grabbed Annabeth's waist and pulled back. Phaeton fluttered off and grabbed the back of Piper's T-shirt. There was a sucking sound and the mud sucked Gwen up right to her bra line.

Gwen squealed in surprise. Then the clayish mud under Annabeth's shoes began to give away to a watered down mud. She gasped, her shoes beginning to get sucked down.

"GET AWAY!" Gwen yelled, yanking her hands away from Annabeth. Annabeth obeyed, backing up at high speed and running Piper over.

"Don't worry, we'll get you out." Piper said worriedly.

"Don't do anything." Annabeth ordered, "Gaea doesn't want to let Gwen go. At all. Fighting just makes odds worse for Gwen."

"Yeah, don't bother," Gwen tried to wipe some mud off her face, "I love hanging out in an ice cold pit of mud."

"So what do you want us to do? Leave her in the pit?" Piper demanded, "Watch her get slowly sucked up?"

"Of course not-"

The ground shook violently.

"You may watch yourselves die." Phaeton announced. Then the stone cracked. Right in a tight circle around the four of them.

"Annabeth," Piper whispered, "What's happening?"

Like she would know.

Then their column shot up into the air. Gwen squealed a little bit. Their column stopped. Gwen was up to her armpits, her hands in the air like she was a rock star. She looked pissed.

"This is very cold." she announced, "I can't feel my fingers or toes."

"Oh, stop complaining, Gwen." Annabeth tried to think of something positive to say, "It could be worse."

Being a daughter of someone known as wise might have enabled her to not make the legendary verbal slip up of the century.

_**Chapter XXX: PIPER: Separate Ways**_

"It could be worse." Annabeth told Gwen. So, of course, the whole column that was suspending them in the air about one hundred stories high began to quiver.

"_Annabeth!" _Piper snapped.

Then a hand appeared on the edge. Phaeton squealed and fluttered up and away a little.

"Coward!" Annabeth yelled at him, jerking out her knife.

"I am _not _a coward." Phaeton landed back on the mud and rose his wings up high. Ready to attack. Then the thing rose its ugly head up over the edge and clamored onto their column. There was hardly enough room for them all.

"Not _again." _Piper groaned, "Can't you stay dead for a little while?"

"It's an Earthborn." Annabeth said.

It still was ugly as ever. Nothing had tarnished Piper's memory of meeting them last Christmas. It was about seven feet tall. Looked kind of like an ogre (a deranged one). Wore a dirty loin cloth. Had six arms. And had never heard of a bath.

"I kill!" it roared, seeming very proud of itself.

The Earthborn grinned at them and raised all of its six arms. The power of six unwashed armpits was too much. Piper gagged and covered her nose and mouth.

"Holy gods!" Gwen yelped, sounding nasal as she pinched her nose. Annabeth gasped and stumbled back a little.

"Annabeth!" Piper screamed.

Annabeth didn't have enough room to stumble back. There was a moment when she was just hanging in midair, her toes on the edge, her face startled.

"Annabeth!" Gwen screamed.

Piper grabbed at Annabeth's jeans. But she was too late. In a second, Annabeth was falling.

"PHAETON!" Gwen bellowed, "NOW!"

Phaeton dove over the edge.

Piper jerked out Katoptris and dodged four of the Earthborn's arms. She ducked and slashed, digging her knife into the Earthborn's stomach. It melted into a nasty-smelling pile of clay. All over her boots.

"You did it!" Gwen grinned, "Did you learn that from First Legion?"

"I had a good teacher." Piper smiled warmly at Gwen. Gwen laughed.

"Wrong, you had the best." Then Gwen's faced changed and the earth sucked her up.

"GWEN!" Piper grabbed at her fingers. But of course she was too late. The mud hole turned back into regular clay mud. "Phaeton!" she called desperately. But what could a bird do? Gwen was in solid ground. No, not solid.

Piper stabbed the mud with Katoptris and started digging.

"Give" slash "me" dig "her" fly, chunk of mud! "back!"

The ground retracted slightly and then pushed out at super speed. Piper flew through the air. The ceiling was rushing at her. She was going to get crushed and look like a fly who met a swatter. A tunnel appeared in the ceiling. Instead of being crushed, she went through the tunnel.

"ANNABETH!" Piper screamed.

The entrance closed up. She could feel the tunnel shaking as the ceiling continued to rush down. Phaeton and Annabeth were going to be squished and killed. Then everything stopped moving.

Piper sighed and felt her way to her sheath. She put Katoptris up and touched the edge of the wall. There was only one way to find light. And that was follow the tunnel.

Piper took a deep breath, wrapped her jacket tighter around herself, and stood up.

She started to walk down the black tunnel.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter XXXI: ANNABETH: The Valiant Reyna**

She couldn't believe she'd just stumbled off the edge like that. She felt like such an idiot as she fell through the air. _Just let me hit the bottom, _she thought darkly, _Save Gwen and Piper from my clumsiness. _Then Phaeton had her backpack again.

"You're going to rip it all the way!" she scolded.

"GWEN!" Piper bellowed from above.

Annabeth looked up. Phaeton's light just barely reached the top of the column. A tower of mud spat out of the top suddenly. Piper screamed. Then there was silence.

"Get up there!" Annabeth yelled. There was a rumbling.

"The ceiling's coming down!" Phaeton squawked. He dove.

"NO! GO BACK FOR GWEN AND PIPER!" Annabeth squealed, fighting against his hold. There was a snap and she was free falling. Pain. Then-

Nothing.

Annabeth was in a tent. It took her a moment to get a grip on what was happening. She could remember falling...then she saw Percy and nothing else mattered. She wanted to run forward, but something was holding her back. Percy looked pale, his skin stretched tight over his bones. His face was scrunched up in pain. Reyna was leaning over him, her rivers of golden hair falling onto his shaking chest. Her brow was creased in concern as she dabbed Percy's face with a wet cloth.

"What do you think, Reyna?" a little Apollo boy asked her quietly, his face showing nothing, as he brought her more towels and rags.

"I think those Greeks better hurry up if they want Percy breathing when they get back." Reyna answered darkly, throwing her rag in the dirt.

"We left the fate of his life in the hands of a bunch of Greeks?" the boy sneered.

"Guinevere can do it." Reyna answered, taking one of the boy's damp cloths.

"Maybe, she _is _Greek." the five other Apollo campers snickered at this.

"No, she's Roman, Fisher. Don't disrespect our Lieutenant, brothers." Reyna snapped at them.

"You actually believe those _Greeks, _and Guinevere, can go up against Gaea?" Fisher shook his head, watching Reyna carefully. Reyna turned her back on her siblings, dabbing Percy's neck.

"I do." she told them.

"The reject of the Minerva cabin and a ditzy Venus diva?" Fisher snorted, setting down his rags. "They were pathetic when they walked out of camp. Their bones will decorate Gaea's brow as a crown of medals."

"Annabeth is the pride of the _Athena _cabin back in Greek camp. She's a girl Dakota, head of Minerva, respects and a person who will hold her own." Reyna told them valiantly.

"With Greekie emotions." Fisher snickered, bumping Reyna's arm. She growled at him and Fisher moved away from her, his face creasing with confusion and worry.

"That's besides the point. They're here to help with the war effort."

"That's what Jackson said anyway." a voice said.

"Carson, you're not supposed to be in here. Get back to your activities!" Reyna snapped at him, clenching her hand and dripping the water from the cloth in Percy's slightly agape mouth. Percy garbled something unintelligible and choked slightly. Reyna didn't notice.

"You think you can just order me around, Reyna?" Carson smirked at her. Reyna stood her ground, coming around Percy's cot.

"This is my realm. Get lost."

"You have faith in the little Greekies, Reyna?" Carson smirked at her. Annabeth didn't trust him. There was something about him. Maybe it was his swagger. Maybe it was his cocky air. Maybe it was the way his voice was too slippery. Something was really wrong though. Annabeth wanted to get Reyna out of the way.

"Yeah, I do." Reyna squeezed her towel. Carson smirked and mirrored her Roman face.

"What about Piper? That little Venus dog? Are you going to believe in her? Let her steal your Jason? Just let her move into your territory?"

Reyna's lip curled.

"He's not _my_ Jason. He is Captain of First Legion. He is our leader. He is a person no one owns. Jason has faith in-Piper." the name was obviously hard to force out of her lips. "And I respect and agree with his decision. And you all should too!" she spun around quickly. Slow enough so everyone could feel her controlled rage but fast enough so that Carson didn't get to see her back for more than a second. "So no more of this gibberish! Fisher, stop smirking like a rabid grasshopper and get those cloths cold! Ragg, Samter, get a tub. Fill it with water. We're going to keep Percy alive. Water is his thing. I don't care what those idiots say! I don't care! Get it now! No, I just said I don't care that we're breaking the rules! How? It's called sneaking! Get a couple Mercury kids if you're too chicken, cowards! And _you," _she stepped just a little closer to Carson, "_you,_" her voice was full of pure disgust and dislike, "I told you before to get the hell out of my tent, you low life." Carson scampered out. Reyna sighed a little. "You Greekies better hurry." she whispered, her eyes lingering on Percy's pained face. "He doesn't have much time left."

Annabeth opened her eyes to find herself bathed in a dim orange light. She slowly sat up, her mind reeling with the dream she had just had. What did it mean? Who was Carson? Did Percy really have a day and a half left or...? She didn't want to think about or. Or was a four letter word to her at the moment.

She turned around.

"Phaeton." she said flatly, angry to see him. She thought about all his cowardly stunts. That maybe weren't as much coward as instinct and smart. If a ceiling was falling down, what would most people do? Go up or down? If it was all or just one, what would happen? Let everyone die or just one brave soul? Maybe Percy had made her brain go a little soft.

"Phaeton..." she said his name again, more apologetically. "Phaeton?" the bird still hadn't moved. A cold fear wedged its way up her spine. She crawled quickly over to the dimly glowing bird. Her miniature sun had been diminished to a miserable glow not fit for a lightning bug. "Hey! Get up!" she touched his hot feathers lightly. Nothing. "Phaeton!" she curled her fingers around a bundle of his crimson feathers and shook him slightly.

He issued a little musical moan of pain.

Annabeth gasped and sat back on her heels. She had thought last summer would be the end of all the fierce battling. Of course there would be monsters. Less quests too. But the dying would go down. She had hoped-she had promised herself to keep going-that after the battle at the Empire State Building, she wouldn't see anyone more die. But here Annabeth was. In the realm of Gaea, playing a stupid game to save Percy who found trouble no matter what happened.

Maybe the Romans were right. Maybe she couldn't do this. Maybe they were just going to become a stylish crown of bones. Maybe she would never see Percy again...

Her jaw snapped closed and tight. Her hands curled into fists.

No.

She wouldn't just give up like that. She would prove the Romans wrong. She would live up to Reyna's praise. She would save her stupid boyfriend. She would get her friends to safety. She would master and outsmart Gaea. She could. She would.

Because Annabeth was a proud daughter of Athena.

**Chapter XXXII: GUINEVERE: Why? **

There was only a cold, burning blackness that blanketed her and choked her. It didn't matter how much Gwen wanted to fight and escape. It wasn't going to happen. Faintly, she could hear Piper. But whether she was really hearing the daughter of Aphrodite or just remembering an echo was a mystery she would probably never find out the answer to. Somehow, a tear squeezed its way out of her tightly closed eyelids and seeped into the dirt encasing her like a bad dream. There was a cold tingling from her father's necklace.

Then sweet relief.

It started in her toes. The loosening of her bonds. And it worked up. Her ankles. Her calves. Knees. Thighs. Hips. Waist. Chest. Shoulders. Neck. Mouth. Nose. Eyes. She didn't open them. Her hair. Elbows. Wrists. Until she was hanging by her fingertips. Then even that abated and she was falling.

There was a crack and she was on her back, all her limbs twisted in uncomfortable, almost broken angles. But she still didn't open her eyes. She could feel her hair, loose from its broken hair band, wrapped around her arms, neck, and face. But she still didn't move.

She felt lethargic. Unreal. Trapped in a dream-like state. Her eyes remained sealed.

Why should she get up? Why should she fight? In what name did she fight? In what cause did she fight for? Nothing came to her dead mind. Anything in it was like a buzz of dim, shadowy memories that held no reason to fight anymore. There was a cold pain around her neck. The name formed behind her eyelids.

_Percy. _Her brother.

That's who she fought for. That's why she fought tirelessly. That's why she had to get up. That's why she had to move past physical exhaustion. Percy. Perseus. Big brother.

The thought of seeing his nose scrunch up in a cheesy smile was enough to make her forget the pain in her frozen limbs. The thought of hearing one of his less than intelligent remarks that mainly just won him a dirty look or a sock in the mouth was worth the pain of all the mud and rocks digging into her. The thought of just giving her brother a hug and having someone there who really understood her was enough to make her not care that she hadn't had a decent meal or that she was stuck in the bowels of Gaea. It didn't matter.

Slowly, Gwen forced her fingers to close.

At the pace fast enough to make a glacier clap, Gwen sat up and looked around. She still couldn't find the incentive to open her eyes. But she moved her head around as if she might see something past the blackness of her eyelids. She probably wasn't missing much. She had no light.

Black would be the only canvus ready to greet her and ask for her analysis.

There was a horrible snarl and Gwen's eyes snapped open. Flashes of red eyes filled up her vision. She didn't know if the creature was actually watching her or if her mind was running wild.

All Gwen knew was that the creature of her nightmares was down with her in Gaea's hell.

**Chapter XXXIII: PIPER: A Helping Horn**

Where was she? She had no flipping idea. All she knew was that she was getting pretty tired of running her hands on the muddy walls of the tunnel and she was getting kind of discouraged. She'd been walking for a good amount of time. She didn't know exact times, but she knew it had been a good amount. She felt disoriented. The pitch black frightened Piper a little bit, truthfully.

A big glob of mud oozed onto her hand. She shivered and let go of the wall for a second. She swiped off the glob and huffed, annoyed with Gaea's tactics. Piper reached back for the wall but found nothing.

Just an empty blackness almost as thick as butter.

Her breathing increased as a ball of fear closed off her throat. She took a shaky breath.

"Stay calm." she told herself. "She just wants me to freak out. Well," now she was talking to the dirt, "try all you want, but I'm not going to get freaked. So leave me alone." Piper bit her lips as soon as the words came pouring out of her.

Hadn't she watched Gwen's bad luck enough? One smart little Greek remark and they were tumbling from crap to crap in a little maze of moving walls and slimy floors. She leaned over a little more. Again, she found nothing. She swallowed back her fear again. _Stop it! _she told herself. _This is just silly. There's nothing to be afraid of. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just a crazy earth lady stoked up on too much dirt who could move the ground and crush me into oblivion. But, hey, that's nothing. Nothing. No fear. Don't worry about the fact you just lost the tunnel walls. You didn't like those slimy things anyways, right? What an improvement! Now you don't have to worry at all! Yay! Be happy! Laugh! Jump! Smile! Whistle! _Wait, she couldn't whistle. _Screw whistling. Clap! No fear! Yay..._

The ground rumbled.

"Really?" Piper snapped, holding both her arms out and waving them around, in search of something. She probably looked like a blind individual. Gaea was probably having the time of her life laughing her face off. Could a person die of laughter? Piper hoped Gaea would. But that would be too convenient, right?

"Can't you control your gas for five seconds! Five! Seconds!" Piper bellowed into the black. Gaea wasn't going to play favorites apparently because then the ground rumbled with more purpose.

Piper's feet found nothing to support them and she was falling through the air. She hit slushy mud and tumbled down the steep incline. She hit a mud pool and straightened up immediately, gasping for breath. She could feel the soupy mud from the bottoms of her lower lashes to the insides of her boots.

A few fist sized rocks came tumbling down the mud slide. She dodged them as well as she could by using her ears but of course the largest nailed her on the top of her head. Piper groaned and slapped the soupy water. It came up to her waist and didn't feel good to be swirling around.

There was a scuffling sound. It echoed all around the mini cavern Piper had found. Her heart began to beat a mile per millisecond. She had her knife out in a second.

"Oh, that's perfect." she muttered. Even muddy, her knife threw a vague but definite light across her muddy pool. Why couldn't she have thought of that before? How much easier would her life have been if she'd just yanked out her beautiful Helen of Troy knife and wandered around in its bronzy glow?

Of course she wouldn't think of that. That would be too perfect. Too nice.

She glared at her knife.

"Well," she snapped at her knife, "What do you have to say for yourself?"

The scuffling sound returned.

Piper gasped and clutched Katoptris closer to her breast. Then she thought better of it.

"Who's there!" she demanded, holding her knife out in front of her.

The scuffling stopped for a moment then it got louder and more urgent. And it was coming her direction.

"STOP WHERE YOU ARE!" Piper yelled, trying to sound authoritative.

It was coming to her. Faster and faster.

There was a splash. Piper screamed and dropped Katoptris. Not smart. She dunked down. The floor shied away from her fingers. _NO! _Piper thought, getting angry. She wouldn't let Gaea take her knife. It was hers. It was her light. It was her protection. She dove down harder. The soupy mud was getting thicker. She jerked her arm down as far as she could.

The hilt met her fingertips. She barely got her fingers around it before the knife jerked violently, almost out of her grasp. Piper grabbed it thickly with both her hands. The mud wiggled between her hands, trying to force them free. Then it drug her down. Her vision turned red. She couldn't breathe.

Something had the back of her jacket. Pulling her up? Down? She had no idea. But something had her. And she couldn't think. Couldn't care. Couldn't hardly feel. She only knew she couldn't breathe and she wanted to keep her knife.

Then she was out.

The mud felt super thick still. Piper opened her eyes. The mud fell thickly into them. It weighed down her eyelids. It weighed down her arms. But she still had Katoptris. Piper sat up and threw up mud. She rubbed her mouth on her sleeve and looked over to what had yanked her up and out of her mud trap. She found herself looking into a large, bashful eye. Piper squeaked then jumped back.

The creature leapt away from Piper too, giving its own odd squeak of alarm. Piper lowered her hands from her face and held her knife out in front of her, trying to cast light on the creature. It squealed louder and backed away from her. Curiosity won over and Piper slipped Katoptris back in its sheath.

"It's okay." she whispered, "I won't hurt you. You can come here, little odd creature thing." Piper clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. She hoped that wouldn't scare it even more. To her surprise, a small silvery glow filled the room. The creature was emitting a strange, beautiful glow.

"&&&" Piper whispered.

The creature lightly approached her, every move cautious.

It's head and neck was that of a deer with big, bashful eyes and large, twitching ears. It's body was of a study shetland pony's. The beautiful, unusual thing had the feet of an elephant and the tail of a boar. Its whole body was pure white. Except for the long, midnight black horn in the middle of its forehead. Not a speck of mud soiled its appearance.

"Will you help me get out of here?" Piper whispered to it.

With gentle, doe lips, it tickled her cheek. Then the unicorn bowed its head in a subtle "yes".

**Chapter XXXIV: ANNABETH: Meet the Spiders**

Every step was a battle. Every time she lifted her foot, it was a fight to get her sneaker free of the mud and another to find a good place to set it back down. But Annabeth kept going forward. On her back was her stupid backpack, both straps repaired with rope. Inside the bag, squishing the medicines and what leftover food there was, was Phaeton. He would squeak a musical note every time the mud would slide unsteadily under Annabeth's feet and she would accidentally jostle him. If it hadn't sounded so pitiful, Annabeth probably would have crafted a muzzle for him quickly.

There was a pricking sensation on her arm and she swatted at it. _Stupid mud. _she thought darkly, coming to the end of her patience. She had no idea how she would find Piper and Gwen because, frankly, she didn't know what had happened to them. For that matter, she had no idea what had happened to her. _Stupid caves. Stupid tunnels. Stupid Gaea. _she continued on in her head.

There was another unpleasant tickle on her arm. She slapped her arm, still not looking down but stubbornly glaring straight and forward. Phaeton's dim, orangey glow was her only light source. And it didn't light very much in front of her _at all. _But it was better than nothing. That was for sure.

Another tickle.

Annabeth sighed in irritation. She looked down, hand raised to slap the mud off when she saw it. She shrieked instead.

"SPIDER!" she bellowed, jumping around and around. "SPIDER!"

The mud tightened around her ankles and she was falling forward. Crash. She screamed louder as more tiny little spiders swarmed her. "SPIDERS!" she tried to get up but the spiders were throwing their little tiny ropes over her. In a split second, there were so many, she couldn't break through them. Annabeth shrieked again but it was useless. Phaeton gave a miserable moan of worry. They were both wrapped up together in a too-tight cocoon of spider webs.

Then the millions of teenie-weenie spiders dragged Annabeth and Phaeton away.

Farther down the tunnel, the path split into three ways. Annabeth would have gone right. The spiders took them left. To what appeared the darker of the three choices. Annabeth struggled against her bonds but they were like iron chains. She stopped when Phaeton cried about how she was squishing him. A spider leg touched her nose and she screamed, accidentally swallowing a couple unfortunate bugs. That cut her scream short and sour.

Then they stopped dragging her and Phaeton. Her breath was short. She tried to not inhale any spiders.

"Pull her up." a scratchy voice ordered slowly. Annabeth felt herself being pulled up. Then she and Phaeton were hanging in the air, slightly turning around. Tiny, scratchy laughter. Annabeth's skin crawled.

"What do we have here, children?" the scratchy voice asked. "A glowing bird? Put him over there. We will dine good tonight!"

Tiny, spidery cheers.

"No." Annabeth whispered, too frightened to do more than twitch when Phaeton was ripped out of his bonds and thrown in a corner. He let out a musical shriek of pain and lay still, his eyes blinking slowly. A group of spiders began to jump around on him. He opened his mouth and inhaled the one on his nose.

"And," the scratchy voice continued, "A daughter of _Athena." _she hissed the name.

"Y-you're A-Arachne." Annabeth forced out. Her voice no higher than a whisper.

"I didn't take Athena's children to be masters of the obvious. Perhaps we have captured a dud, children. How disappointing." the voice was getting closer. Strangely, the light was getting brighter. Maybe it was just Annabeth's imagination. But she wanted it to stay dark. She didn't want to see Arachne, the foolish mortal her mother had transformed into a spider. "Yet, it is still a child of Athena. And I am sure she will taste just like any other Athena descendant we captured."

More cheers.

"Tell, me, little girl, what is your name?"

Annabeth couldn't answer. She was shaking too much.

"What is your name, baby girl?" Arachne was getting closer. Annabeth didn't want her to get any closer. She forced open her lips. Maybe if she told her, Arachne would stop.

"A-A-Anna-Annabeth." she choked out.

"_Annabeth_?" Arachne hissed, "What a pretty name for someone so undeserving."

Arachne kept coming closer.

"Tell me,_ Annabeth,_ are you frightened?"

She couldn't reply.

"Are you scared, smart dud child?"

Her lips were shaking as she kept them clamped shut.

"ANSWER ME!" Arachne snarled, scuttling out of the shadows at Annabeth.

"Yes!" Annabeth shrieked, her voice shattering.

Arachne was the size of a normal person. She was pure black with a torso that went up like a human's. It was black though and connected to her spider abdomen. She had six spindly, spider legs and one pair of pale human arms where they should be. Her face was furious and spitting as she ran at Annabeth. Her golden brown curls were pinned up with only a few strands hanging down a little limply. Around her neck was a faint burn from a rope. She smiled as she watched a couple tears slip out of Annabeth's gray eyes.

"You have eyes just like your mother's." Arachne told her. Her lips pulled back so that Annabeth could see the long fangs in place of her K-9 teeth. Arachne got closer to Annabeth. She whimpered in fear.

"I hate those gray eyes." Arachne told her sweetly, touching one of Annabeth's mud-streaked curls. "I hate that beautiful hair." She patted Annabeth's face. "I did nothing wrong and look what your mother did to me."

Annabeth tried to swallow and a retort that was Percy-stupid came bubbling up.

"Obviously the guilt my mother reminded you of did not remain in your demise."

"Impertinent girl!" Arachne snarled. "I did nothing wrong!"

"You challenged the gods and disrespected Athena!" Annabeth replied. She decided everyone had stupid instincts. Percy's ran all the time. Right now, Annabeth's were taking a turn. "You got what you deserved!"

"I was the better weaver and your mother killed me!"

"She did not! You spun a disrespectful scene and my mother made you feel the appropriate guilt for your actions!" Annabeth's fear was falling away. At the moment, stupid instincts rocked. Arachne was hunching down, scooting away from Annabeth, trying to defend herself.

"She killed me! She killed me!" Arachne snarled, her voice loosing confidence.

"No! You just couldn't handle the consequences for your actions so you hung yourself! My mother did not kill you! You killed yourself!"

"She killed me! She killed me!"

"You're lucky she took pity on your hanging corpse and changed you into a spider. She allowed you to continue your weaving in nature where you could respect the gods and spread the glory of Athena's good heart!"

"She killed me! She killed me!" Arachne had thrown herself into a full-blown fit of a hysterical tantrum. "Now I'll kill you!" she lunged at Annabeth.

Annabeth screamed, feeling helpless as she tried to fight against her constraints.

A flash of red.

Arachne screamed. There was a crunch-crunch then Phaeton was laying on the floor, very fat and glowing as brightly as he had before he'd fallen and hurt himself. He rolled over, his stomach flat on the ground. He seemed to grin up at Annabeth.

"I like spiders." he told her.

**Chapter XXXV: GUINEVERE: Fight of Her Life**

She was scared silly. Red was burning into her vision permanently. But the snarling continued on. Gwen began to slowly crawl backwards, away from the snarls. She could just run away. She could just hide. It wouldn't find her. She would be okay. Then she heard the moan of a baby in pain. The cry of misery.

Could Gwen just leave it to die? Would she really sacrifice the life of a baby to maybe safe herself? Had she really gone that yellow when it came down to her nightmare creature? She was older now. She was stronger. Gwen had defeated so many monsters. The thing hiding in the shadows killing a baby was just as strong as Gwen made it seem in her head. It could be a push-over now. And, maybe, if she caught it by surprise, she wouldn't chicken out.

Another whine of misery.

_MOVE! _she screamed in her head. She got to her feet shakily and flicked her wrists. It got brighter suddenly. The shape of a huge, rabid, mutant badger was thrown into shady light. It was chewing on another creature of no small size. Gwen took a shaky breath. She could do this. She could overcome her fear of the dark and that monster in this one battle. She could. And she would.

Gwen brought her swords together in a scream of wonderfully satisfying bronze against bronze. Her monster froze from its ripping. Slowly, it turned its red eyes to her. Fear sizzled up her back, rendering her frozen for a moment. It snickered at her and turned completely around. It bared it six inch teeth at her and took a menacing step towards her.

"I'm not afraid of you anymore." she told it. Partially to sound good. Partially to make herself believe it. The monster snarled at her with more vigor as if saying "How dare you!"

"Come and get it." Gwen challenged, swallowing hard and holding her swords out in front of her.

The monster wanted it. It charged at her. Gwen gritted her teeth and let her training take over. She allowed herself to become emotionally detached. When she was so scared, she knew she would lock up in a really bad time of the battle. It was just the way things usually worked out. She was finally glad for her Roman training. Her Roman instincts.

Slash. Stab. Miss. Duck. Dance.

They danced around in a loose circle. Watching every move the other opponent was making. Any mistake would have been jumped upon. But they didn't make any. It was a tight fight. Just like it had been when Gwen had first met it. Gwen had gotten better. But so had it.

Jab. Slip. Counter. Snarl. Dodge.

It was too close. They were both playing smart. Gwen because her Roman training entailed cautious moves. The monster because one bite from Gwen's swords and it was a pile of sulfur-smelling dust. Not a very promising future.

Spin. Split. Scratch. Scream. Kill.

The baby the monster had been killing moaned, blood spilling out of its wounds. The monster turned slightly to snarl at it. Gwen took a chance to swipe but the monster avoided her swords and ripped across her unprotected area: her stomach. It was shallow. But it still hurt. And it was still the first mark. The first broken skin so far. And it still spat blood out over Percy's shorts and her legs. Gwen bit her lips in pain.

The monster cackled at her and leapt at her. Gwen plunged her swords up and her nightmare denigrated into a yellow dust all over her. Gwen coughed and patted most of it off. She flicked her swords up and ran over to the baby monster. She turned it over so that it was on its back. It squealed a little and flailed but its arms were midget-sized. It looked like a T-rex. It was small. Only coming up to her hips, but it was definitely T-rex looking. Big head. Little arms. Thick legs. Long tail. Little eyes. Big mouth full of plenty sharp teeth.

"It's okay, little guy." Gwen cooed at him, patting the top of his leathery head. "I won't let him hurt you anymore."

"What about me?" a voice-Gaea's voice-hissed. The ceiling to the cave rattled and came down. Gwen gasped and sank her hands into the mud suffocating her feet. That's when she felt it. The tug in her gut. The feeling of water near. The realization of groundwater.

She shoved off from her legs and hands and jumped into the air, throwing her hands up high, living the tug in the bottom of her gut. Water exploded out of the ground. It created a barrier between the falling ceiling, the heightening ground, and she and the baby dinosaur. But Gaea was putting forth all her effort into squishing Gwen. Every wall and dirt speck was shoving against Gwen's water walls. It was all she could do to keep the T-rex up in a water fountain so Gaea couldn't suck him out and away. Gaea's walls were making Gwen's tighter. Gaea was much too strong for Gwen to fight. Gwen screamed as her muscles and thoughts burned with effort and exertion.

It was too much. Gaea had the whole earth and Gwen had a few yards thick of water. It wasn't enough to fight with. She screamed louder. Her muscles were tearing as she tried to make her walls hold up. There was so much pain. Her thoughts were getting blurry. Her vision was going black. Her fingers and toes were numb. Her wound from her nightmare monster was a dull thud-thud in the very back of her mind.

There was a scream of annoyance-from her or Gaea?-and then one of her walls broke. A column of stone soared through the side of the walls and hit Gwen square in the upper chest. Right where her rips met her neck. It shot her out of her water bubble of protection. Without her guidance and strength, the water flopped onto the ground uselessly. The dinosaur landed on its over-sized feet and gave a growl of annoyance.

Gwen couldn't do anything. Her muscles had frozen up. The breath was gone from her lungs. But she saw the yellow dust mounding over itself and turning black. Then her nightmare monster was back. It's red eyes clearly stated it was pissed. Gwen couldn't move still.

It jumped towards her. It gave another leap, its face eager and just as it was coming back to the ground for a final leap to tear Gwen's throat out, the baby dinosaur roared. It opened its mouth and shrieked. Gwen went cross-eyed. The ground split open and the monster fell right down the crack.

Gwen slowly sat up. The dinosaur looked bashful. Could a reptile look bashful?

"I think I'll call you Rexie." she said.

Then Gwen fainted.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter XXXVI: PIPER: Clap Or Die**

Piper had one hand on the unicorn's back and the other gripping Katoptris with a killer intensity. Regardless of the unicorn's calming presence, Piper was still scared almost out of reason. The tunnel walled seemed to be slightly shaking with a barely controlled fury. She hoped that meant Gwen was alive. Of course, Gaea seemed so irked, Gwen was probably dead now. Piper tried to keep the hand touching the unicorn calm.

It looked over its shoulder and blinked slowly at her. Piper wasn't fooling her mystical companion in the least. She sighed and patted the unicorn's back. It was too small for her to ride on like they did in movies. What the unicorn was and what she expected were two different things. She'd thought unicorns were horses with a narwhal horn right in the center of its head. She would have a few words with those stupid historians and unicorn websites.

Gaea shook the walls slightly. She swore the walls ground together in what sounded like a growl. She bit her lips nervously and looked forward. She stopped and so did the unicorn. It shifted on its elephant feet. Delicately for feet so large.

"It's a dead end." Piper whispered. Her voice sounded wrong out loud. "Why is it a dead end?" she continued, her voice fading off. She sounded foreign.

There was a snap and Piper twirled around, her hand leaving the unicorn. Panic rose up in her throat. The tunnel behind them was collapsing. She pressed up against the wall, her arms shaking. The falling rocks were almost to them. There was an extra loud snap somewhere else and Piper shrieked in surprise. The collapsing stopped.

The walls rumbled in a kind of sick laughter. Then the wall she was squished up against crumbled and Piper fell back. The unicorn started after her but everything seemed to go on rewind. The rocks to the wall flew back up and closed off the break. Piper's gravity didn't get the memo, however. She continued to fall backwards.

She hit the ground hard. Katoptris skittered across the black floor. Piper gasped, trying to get the air back in her lungs. She sat up quickly and began to grope for her knife in the black. She had to find it. She had to pick her way back up to get to the unicorn. She had to get out of Gaea's traps and find Annabeth and Gwen. Or what was left of them.

"Are we looking for this, dear, sweet Piper girl?" a voice, thick as honey, hissed.

Piper spun around. But she could only see black. The voice echoed around the room she was trapped in. There was a clap and hundreds of candles lit up the small room. Piper took a small step back. A woman was standing in the middle of all the colorful lights, holding Katoptris's hilt with her thumb and forefinger. An eerie smile stretched the woman's face. There was a strange flicker of light and Piper could see the woman's skull for a second.

"Medea." Piper whispered.

"Yes, Piper dearest, it's me. I see you're on another quest."

"I see you're alive again." Piper replied.

"Oo, touchy, are we? You know, daughter of Aphrodite, I should be the one who's touchy. Your friends hurt my babies. My poor little dragons. And you helped them. My store is gone, you little wretch."

"Boo hoo." Piper looked around quickly. There was no way out of the fairly small room.

"Oh, dear, pretty little Charmspeaker, there's no way out of here. You can kiss those lovely little thoughts of yours good-bye."

"Give me back my knife."

"When I'm done with you, Piper, you won't need this knife ever again." Medea laughed and look a swishing step forward. She dangled Katoptris. Piper gritted her teeth. She took a step towards Medea.

"Fight me. Give me a fair fight." she challenged.

"Piper, dear, how violent we've gotten."

"You're one to talk."

Medea laughed a ringing laugh of someone trained to laugh perfectly.

"What are you, afraid I'll beat you?" Piper took another brave step forward.

"Oh, Piper, what a lovely apprentice you would have made for me." Medea sighed lightly and touched her finger to her cheek thoughtfully. "A fellow Charmspeaker with spunk. Lovely, lovely." her smile twisted. "But this will be much more fun, Piper, dear. You won't enjoy it, but I'll have the time of my life."

Piper felt so vulnerable without Katoptris. "What do you mean?" she dared to ask.

"As much as I'd find it...interesting...to fight you, I'm sure you got plenty of good training from Camp Half-Blood in the-what?-eight months you were away from me? And then there was that week you spent at First Legion with Guinevere, the known fighter. If she became immortal, she'd be something to fear and a dangerous demigod trainer. Let's hope she dies soon."

"I'll tell you who's going to die soon." Piper growled.

"So feisty. So eager to die. Yes, dear child, you can die very soon."

"Coward!" Piper challenged. Medea's eyes flashed.

"I am not easily provoked into a silly fight, Piper. Now, I'd like you to meet a pet of Gaea's. She sent this after a man who shares the same blood as one of your friends. He was mighty and strong, a son of one of the Big Three. Yet he fell just the same as you will."

"Give me back my knife!" Piper grabbed a candle and chunked it. Medea jumped out of the way. Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"So uncivilized."

She snapped her fingers and threw a glitter at her feet. Medea vanished in a puff of smoke. Piper dived and caught Katoptris which she'd thankfully left behind. There was a scraping sound. Piper held her breath as she looked up. The rock wall in front of her was moving up. Like a really old garage door, it was shaking and groaning all the way up. Then it stopped. Piper looked into the blackness.

Two beady black eyes caught the candles' light.

Piper wished she had a bigger knife.

The ground shook as eight legs shifted forward.

The monster was huge. It was pitch black which really sucked because it had already knocked over at least half of Medea's candles. If-no, when-they fought-which would probably last a good two seconds-it would knock the rest of the candles down and Piper would be fighting a big black scorpion in the pitch black. The thing had too many eyes. Too many legs. And a tail with too much poison. And Piper was just Piper with a knife that was too little compared to the monster snapping its too sharp pinchers at her.

Piper swallowed. In all likelihood, she would be dead in less than a minute easily. But maybe she could defeat the giant scorpion stomping closer and closer to her. Stranger things had happened. Like Jason flying. That was weird the first time it happened. She'd been falling down the Grand Canyon...But Jason had a reasonable excuse, he was the son of Zeus. Or Jupiter. Or whoever. Still, what was _she_ going to do? Compared to the monster, she had a toothpick to fight with.

Maybe she could poke it to death.

It was about as tall as a semi truck hauling two loads was long. Then it was about three times as long as it was wide, not including the tail that was curled dangerously over its body. The scorpion stopped and made a shrill hissing shriek. _Nobody invite that thing to choir. _Piper thought, flinching back. It glared at her with beady eyes. It screamed again in a louder, shriller voice. The hair on the back of Piper's neck stood up. The remaining candles shook worriedly. The scorpion stomped its little feet. It shrieked louder than before. Piper dropped Katoptris and slammed her hands over her ears.

Katoptris clattered on the floor. It sounded kind of like clapping. The scorpion puffed up. Piper slowly lowered her hands from her head and reached for her knife. The monster made a warm hissing sound. Piper never knew hissing could be classified as "warm" until the creature did it. At least it sounded a lot better than the shrieks. Piper was frozen, afraid anything she would do would cause the scorpion to freak out on her again. The monster's black eyes narrowed.

Piper dropped Katoptris. The clattering echoed around and around the little room. It hissed even softer and sweeter. An idea lit up in Piper's head like a mini fourth of July. She left Katoptris on the smooth dirt ground and brought her hands together. The scorpion waited for her next move. It didn't hiss at her but it didn't shriek either. Piper decided to take it as a positive thing even though it could go either way. _Look brightly, right? _she asked herself.

With a snap decision, Piper clapped her hands together quickly and without rhythm. The scorpion swelled. Then it shrieked louder and shriller and more horribly than before. Piper was too terrified to stop clapping. The monster didn't squish her like a bug-or a smaller bug-or just snap her up in its pinchers and squeeze...It continued to shriek up at the ceiling. Getting louder and more horrible by the second. Candles were shaking like they'd been filled with Mexican jumping beans. Most of them began to topple over. Extinguishing as soon as they met with Gaea's mud. It was getting darker and darker.

But Piper continued her race of clapping. She had a feeling her life really did depend upon it. The scorpion continued to shriek louder and louder. Piper could only hear ringing now. But she continued to madly clap until her fingers burned and her palms went numb.

Something raced past her. She could only feel long hair slapping her jacket and legs and the swoosh of air picking up her hair. Her first thought was Medea had returned to finish her off in her misery but just as quickly the thoughts were driven out of her mind by the incessant ringing in her ears and the growing headache in her temples.

Then the earth shook, something thick and heavy fell from the black sky, and then there was light. The unicorn pawed at the ground. It's black horn was covered in yellow monster dust. In the pile of monster dust that was already beginning to slowly shift was a huge pair of reading glasses and a huge brochure that said "So You Want to Sing Opera?" in bold, big letters.

Piper continued to numbly clap.

**Chapter **XXXVII: ANNABETH: Monkeys Come Uh Callin'

Eventually, Phaeton remembered how to move.

And then he slowly waddled over to Annabeth and began to chomp down on the millions of tiny threads holding her captive. Annabeth fell and hit the floor when he finally flew up lethargically and ate her wrist wraps.

"Well," she muttered, her skin crawling, jumping around a little to swat at the stray spider strings clinging to her, "That's one way to think I guess, Phaeton: with your stomach." Annabeth gave a shaky laugh.

"Fank yer."

Annabeth got to her feet shakily and glanced at Phaeton. He was working his beak up and down as fast as he could. He was chewing, as well as a toothless bird could, a humongous wad of sticky spiderwebs like it was bubble gum. Annabeth shivered.

"Let's get out of here."

She turned around and screamed, jumping back. Instantly, she felt like a true idiot. They weren't spiders.

They were twin demons with animated, curling smiles.

"Hello," said one.

"_Annabeth_." the other whispered.

GUINEVERE:

When she managed to open her eyes, Rexie had drooled a small pond on her T-shirt. Gwen slowly sat up.

"Eh." she muttered, "I didn't really like this shirt anyways." she smiled good naturedly at the little dinosaur like monster. It made a cute baby noise and rubbed against her shoulder. "So, shall we go, Rexie?"

Gwen slowly got to her feet wobbly. She expected Gaea to come out of nowhere and smash her into the dirt. But the gods were with her in that respect, Gaea had apparently decided either she would watch Gwen slowly go crazy and die or she'd finish her later. She sighed and bent over, bracing her hands on her knees and trying to catch her breath. She'd never had trouble like this before. Sure, she'd been tired after a really hard sword fight with Percy or maybe when she was practicing and pushing her limits on her control over water, but this was like when Gwen had been getting her soul sucked out. She was exhausted. She just wanted to fall over and never move again for a good twenty years. At least.

Gwen looked up a little. Rexie blinked sweetly at her.

"Yeah, you're right. Suck it up, Gwen." she told herself, straightening up. It felt like she was a balloon and Gaea had just popped a small hole in her. She pulled out one of her swords. Gwen glanced around quickly as if she might see her energy running away. No such luck. _Didn't see that one coming. _Gwen thought to herself darkly, feeling pretty stupid. At least she checked, sometimes odd things did happen...

The ground rumbled.

"Looks like Gaea's getting started early. C'mon, Rexie!" Gwen tried to run forward but her legs had the smart idea to be jelly impostures. She growled dangerously like that would do any good and then these two little people were standing in front of her. Gwen's body seized up a little. The creatures didn't feel sweet like Rexie or Phaeton. They felt like a bad pair of Hermes's kids. Which anyone, even Romans, knew was a good reason to steer _way _clear of them. Hermes kids had cruel jokes sometimes but a bad egg could be murderous.

The two creatures standing in front of her, blocking the path she probably wouldn't have gotten to on her wishy-washy legs anyways, looked kind of like a mix between a monkey, a person, and a demon. Mainly, they looked like orangoutang-sized spider monkeys with baggy T-shirts, ripped trousers, human eyes, and smiles that curled around. As in creepy Disney, cartoons-gone-bad curly smiles. Bottom line, they were creepy.

"You need to," began the one on the right.

"Come with us," the one on the left added.

"Now"

"_Guinevere._"

Their smiles curled even more.

"Uh, yeah, _no_." Gwen turned around. "Come on, Rexie, let's get out of here."

"Good"

"Luck"

"With"

"That."

"You two need to cut that out." Gwen told them, continuing to hobble away, "You aren't going to win yourselves any friendlies if you keep acting like you escaped from the freak part of the circus." Her tongue was loosening up again. She'd have to get control over that.

"The only"

"Way out"

"Is by going"

"With _us._"

"Listen here, Tweedle Dee and Twiddle Dum, or whatever it is, there is no way we're going to wander around in this maze with you two spouting off your weird little mind-reading capabilities. Now, you two can go hopping down the bunny trail over there and we'll go this way." Maybe a little Greek attitude wasn't so bad once in a while...She was on a roll at the moment anyways...

"You don't understand"

"Do you?"

"The only way"

"To get out"

"Of Gaea's maze"

"And save"

"Your brother"

"Is to"

"Follow _us._"

Gwen decided the one on the right would be Tweedle Dee and the one on the left would be Twiddle Dum. Tweedle looked thicker than his brother but that's the way the chips fell sometimes...

"I think they're deaf, Rexie." Gwen shook her head, feeling the comforting weight of her sword in her hand.

"Don't you" Tweedle whispered.

"Wanna save" Twiddle hissed.

"_Percy?_" they asked together.

"Of course I do." Gwen sighed. She didn't want to be just another puppet of Gaea's. She didn't want to play in her show. But the monsters were right. She had to play by the rules if she wanted the prize at the end.

"Then you"

"better come"

"With _us._"

Gwen curled her free hand into a tight fist. Then she forced herself to relax it.

"Fine. No funny business though." Gwen walked back toward them and pointed her bronze sword in Tweedle's face, "Or I'll snap you in half like the little worms you are." She glared at Twiddle. They both inched back from her sword tip. "Change of plan, Rexie, we're following the munchkins down the brown mud road."

Rexie ran up to her side and rubbed against her, almost knocking her over on her jelly legs. Tweedle hissed and recoiled and Twiddle's face twisted in disgust at the sight of Rexie.

"What are"

"You doing"

"With that"

"_Thing?_" they finished up together.

"You're ones to talk." Gwen replied, "Leave Rexie alone, he's with me."

"But it's"

"A _Neades._"

"Fantastic for you guys. Now, lead the way."

PIPER:

Piper was still clapping when two monkey-looking demons came out of the black hole the scorpion first came out of. At first, she just clapped harder and louder then she realized they weren't the opera-wanna-be scorpion and she squealed and ran at them with Katoptris raised high. They dodged her, squealing themselves when she came too close to them. She was going a little crazy and Gwen's training was beginning to pay off.

"Wait!" wailed one.

"Don't you want" squealed the other.

"To see your" the first cried.

"_Friends!_" they finished up together. Piper stopped dead in her tracks. The monkey things sighed in relief. Piper lunged forward and grabbed one by its dirty white Wal-Mart T-shirt. She shook the monster hard and put her knife to its throat.

"What do you mean? What have you done with them? Tell me now!" Piper shook the monkey thing harder.

"I think" cried the captive one.

"She's worse"

"Than the"

"One with"

"A Neades!"

"What Neades?" Piper demanded, "What are you talking about! Where are my friends! What have you done with them!"

"Obviously"

"Gaea was much"

"Too hard on"

"This one."

"She's gone"

"Completely"

"And utterly"

"_Mad._" they ended together.

"I'm standing right here!" Piper shook her captive even harder.

"You must"

"Follow us"

"To see"

"Your friends."

"Where are they!" Piper held Katoptris threateningly at the creature's belly.

"We already"

"Took them!"

"WHERE!" Piper bellowed in the monkey's face. It quivered.

"To the"

"Waiting room!"

"TAKE ME THERE!"

"Yes, ma'am!" they squealed together.

**Chapter XXXVIII: ANNABETH: Togetherness **

The mud slid back like a creepy elevator door and the monkey things popped in. Annabeth glared at them. Then Gwen and a little dinosaur came in after them and she couldn't glare. She was so happy to see Gwen was alive. To know Gaea hadn't killed her like she could have.

"GWEN!" Annabeth threw herself at Gwen. She barely managed to stop herself though. She slammed on the brakes and took a step back. The monkeys snickered and slipped out another door that instantly melted into a solid wall. "Gwen," Annabeth whispered, leaning forward just a little bit, "What happened?"

She looked broken. Her posture was slumped and defeated. Her skin was a sickly shade paler than what it normally was. Her eyes had deep circles under them. The green sparked only a little. Her lips were pressed firmly in a painful frown. Her hair was free and tangled and stringy. Then there was a long thick white stripe of hair on the right side, just past the bangs, framing her face.

Annabeth bit her lip and touched Gwen's hair. She'd never dreamed Gwen could look so...so..._wrong._ Gwen had been the strong, firm one. To see her so broken was just so wrong.

"Got in a fight." she shrugged. She cleared her throat and tried to straighten her back and concrete her face but the pose only held for a couple seconds. She slumped back down.

"Gwen, you need to sit down." Annabeth had never realized how much energy Gwen had to put into her Roman mode. She'd thought it had eventually become automatic. Just a simple thought was required for the tension of the face. A quick reminder when emotions got too strong for just habit.

Then again, Gwen wasn't a true Roman.

"GWEN! ANNABETH!"

"Piper!" Annabeth yelled back. Piper didn't notice Gwen's frailty until she'd collapsed on both of them. Then she noticed.

"Gwen, what happened, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just fine, you guys." Annabeth and Piper stood up but Gwen gritted her teeth and remained on the ground. She was so not "fine". No matter what standard you put it at, she was no where near the realm of "fine". Annabeth told her as much. Gwen fixed her with a firm glare.

"Listen closely, you two. _I. Am. Fine. _No 'if's, 'and's, or 'but's about it. I am _fine._"

"Here that?" asked one monkey.

"She says" the other whispered.

"She's _fine._" they chuckled together.

"Tweedle, Twiddle, shut up." Gwen ordered. She seemed to have fun insulting the monkey demons, "Annabeth, do you know what those are?"

Annabeth shook her head. The monsters hissed dramatically.

"We are"

"The Kerkopes!"

"Is that some kind of disease?" Piper asked. They sputtered furiously, spit flying. "I'll take that as a no."

"Weren't they thieves?" Annabeth asked out loud.

"Yeah," Gwen replied, still sitting on the floor, "I thought Hercules killed them or something."

"Wrong!" yelled one.

"Believe it"

"Or not"

"The hero"

"Set us free"

"As a reward"

"For our"

"Cunning jokes!"

"Could've fooled me." Gwen muttered.

"Zeus however"

"Decided to"

"Punish us"

"When we"

"Outsmarted him!"

"Tweedle, Twiddle, I probably wouldn't have believed the outsmarting thing if it wasn't Zeus."

"Gwen!" Annabeth scolded her half-heartedly. It was the only thing so far that gave Gwen energy. Annabeth was more scolding out of duty than anything else.

"It is not" Twiddle snapped.

"Tweedle"

"And Twiddle!"

"Enlighten us." Gwen huffed, trying to get to her feet. The baby dinosaur stomped over to her.

"It is" Twiddle snarled.

"Olus!" Tweedle snapped.

"And Eurybatus!"

"Did your mom loose a bet with the gods?"

"Gwen! You're asking for it!" Annabeth whispered. If the Kerkopes attacked, Annabeth wasn't sure Gwen could fight them off in her current condition. Thieves were quick, sneaky, dishonest, and had tricks up their sleeves so she wasn't sure if she could protect Gwen and her currently rogue mouth.

"Depends on what 'it' is." Gwen flashed a so-Percy smile at her.

The wall in front of them shook violently.

"It" Eurybatus whispered.

"Is" Olus hissed cheerfully.

"Time." They cackled together.

The wall melted away. The Kerkopes stood on either side of the doorway and gestured in like creepy little doormen. Annabeth bit her lip. Her legs had decided going in there was not a smart option. She hated to agree with them. But her heart prompted her forward. She didn't know what day it was, but Percy was running out of time, and she really wanted to see him. Alive. She tightened her fists.

"Piper, help me." she said in a soft voice.

Together, they put Gwen's arms over their shoulders.

Together, they half-walked, half-dragged themselves in.

Together, they faced the Master of the Earth.

**Chapter XXXIX: GUINEVERE: One Time Only-Meet the Mistress of Evil!**

She wanted to brush them off. She wanted to say a snappy comment with her flapping Greek mouth and make them just drop her on the mud floor. But she couldn't move without them. She hated to admit it. But it was true. And the only way to get the confrontation over with was to go into that room. And the only way Gwen would be able to do that would be to let her friends be friends and help her. Because that's what she needed and secretly what she wanted.

At First Legion, demigods were taught to hoist their own weight. Only the strong survive. You're screwed if you're too hurt or too tired or too whatever to carry on. They shoot you like a dog and move on without tears. Friends are really a four letter word. Because the Romans were still people, they naturally grouped together. They got their emotions irritated if something happened to their friend, but they weren't supposed to. The rules were stand strong, stand silent, stand as one but be alone. Fight together but make no connections. As deeply as any friend might seem, it was just a natural rule drilled into the Romans that a friend could leave you at any moment. If it suited them better to just leave you bleeding after you just saved their life, they would do it. Their eyes were on the big picture for themselves. _Who can I be friends with to get safe? Who can I step on to be big? _

Not many Romans bite back that training to save a friend.

One of the few with a conscious was Jason.

And even he'd deserted Gwen when he'd decided they had to be enemies like their fathers were. But no one was perfect. Not even the son of the top god. No one was perfect.

Gwen licked her lips as they stepped into the cave. The entrance sealed itself back up, hiding the Kerkopes. The floor was solid. Placed ornately around it was thick columns of fire. Piper growled slightly. As if she personally knew the lightman or had a feeling as to who it was. Rexie rubbed against Gwen's back. The unicorn Gwen had almost missed shuffled its big feet quietly. Phaeton burped.

_Only the strong survive._

That was the motto. But even in Gwen's pathetic condition, she felt stronger than she ever had been before. She'd been getting stronger the past few months. And it had all started when Percy woke up. When Percy showed her what a Greek demigod could do. When she got a friend and she wasn't alone anymore. Only the strong survive. True, perhaps. But the definition of strong was skewed.

To the Romans, it meant a strong individual could kick butt. To the Greeks, always unity was the eternal answer. Passion was the burning inside a fighter that made the difference between whether a fight was won or lost. Passion to win. Passion to save. Passion to protect. Just passion. An emotion that Romans portrayed just like their Greek counterparts. An emotion that the Romans tried their hardest to mask while fighting with it at the same time. Unity, something agreed on by both demigod groups. Romans: the unity of a group of blades to take down the enemy. Greeks: the unity of feelings and thoughts to give one hell of a fight.

The Romans knew that teamwork was a good thing. But they wouldn't blink twice if someone in their unit had just keeled over and died. That's how it was supposed to be and that's how most of them acted. The Greeks knew teamwork was smart but they connected and kept passion so when the chips were down, they had an ounce of strength left to give it everything because their emotions were pulsing thick in their veins. Passion and emotions, the things Romans hung up crosses to deter, were supposed to be a weakening thing that made you lose.

So why did Gwen feel so strong in her darkest hour?

Mentally strong, at least. Her body still felt like a molded Jell-O mound.

"Well, maybe we got the wrong appointment time." Gwen whispered, burning to break the silence and pull Gaea out of her earth. She wanted to get this over with. She either died or saved Percy or both. But she didn't feel like waiting on it at the moment. "Or maybe she wrote down the wrong day in her 'Stupid Demigods to Kill' day planner."

"Or maybe you should shut up for the time being, Gwen." Annabeth's words were sharp but her tone wasn't.

"Yeah," Piper put in quietly, "This is my time. I'll do the talking." Gwen found herself nodding dully. It sounded like such a good idea. Piper should do the talking. Piper was so good at talking...She shook her head. Piper winked at her.

"You just do that." Gwen told her. Not many Venus and Aphrodite children had the gift of charmspeaking. If they did they probably only used it to convince their fathers to buy them something or an unfortunate sales clerk to give them a sale. But Piper wasn't like the rest of them. Piper was different than even the hard-headed beauty queens of First Legion. She was probably way different than the even softer Greek kids of the love goddess. Piper was probably like a Mars child to them. Gwen snickered as a picture of a bunch of perfect divas cowered in the corner of a pink room while a hulking figure with Piper's unusual hair style lurked above them, laughing and holding a knife oozing with black nail polish...

"I'm so glad to hear you're having fun." a voice said suddenly. Everyone stiffened. The hair on the back of Gwen's neck stood up. The ground in the middle of the cave began to bubble. It got taller and taller until it was a ten foot tall column of boiling mud. Gwen clung to Piper and Annabeth, feeling like a wuss. But they were clinging back so she didn't feel as bad.

The column began to form a little shape. Then the excess mud slid away and a woman was revealed. She was made of mud and was not solid. The mud kept sliding down her skin and dress and pooling into the cloud of dirt at her feet. Her hair was thick, muddy strands. Her dress would have been pretty if it was white satin laced with gold or silver and not slippery mud layered with strands of grass. Her eyes were half open and were a muddy green. Like grass squished into the mud by a good-sized SUV. A dreamy smile curled back Gaea's lips. Her teeth were sharp rocks.

"At last we meet face to face."

Gwen had a good come back to that but she bit her bottom lip. It was time for her to hold her tongue now. It was time for her to take control. It was time for her to remember who she was. It was time to become the statue of a Roman. Her quirky comments wouldn't help Percy in this situation. It was Piper's time to shine and Gwen's time to shut the hell up. She tasted blood.

"At last." Piper replied evenly.

"I trust you had fun in my maze?" Gaea whispered.

"What day is it?" Piper asked instead of responding to her slippery voice.

"Day three." Gaea didn't seem to mind the change of subject. She actually seemed to enjoy it even more. Her smile widened. The mud on her cheeks slid down her lips. She looked like a butter statue in an oven. Gwen thought of the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz:"I'm melting!" Gaea gave an ugly laugh that sounded like rocks in a lawn mower. "It's about eleven in the morning. You have about an hour, give or take a few minutes." All three of the girls stiffened dangerously.

The silence was about as thick as the mud running down Gaea's nose.

No one broke the silence. The girls were either too horrified, shocked, or just majorly _pissed off _to say anything and Gaea was watching them with her head slightly tilted. A mocking leer curled the tips of her lips. She was enjoying every moment of this. Gwen wanted to go and punch the look right of her muddy face but she knew it would take some serious energy to even lift her arms. So she imagined Gaea's face splattering across the floor to pacify herself. She needed to save any strength she had to get them out of this. If it came down to it, Gwen and Phaeton were the only ones who could fly and Phaeton could only get one person. Gwen wouldn't let anyone or anything be left behind. Which meant she had a lot to carry. And at the moment she couldn't even support her own weight. She bit her lip even harder. Things were not looking positive.

"So what's the deal?" Gwen bit her lip as soon as the words came bubbling out.

"Deal, Guinevere?" Gaea whispered, taking a slow step forward. The dusty cloud of dirt foamed around at her feet.

Gwen looked at Piper for help. No way was she going to mess this up.

Piper opened her mouth but Gaea held up a hand to silence her.

"Are you Guinevere?" she asked.

"No." Piper replied quietly.

"Then hush, daughter of love. Guinevere, what do you mean by deal?" A trail of mud dripped off Gaea's hand. Gwen sighed.

"What must we do to get Percy Jackson's freedom returned?" her tone was thick and heavy. She wasn't trying to charm or outsmart anyone. That was Piper's job. Her job was to stay calm and not mess the deal up.

"But that was the deal last time, dear. That little blonde girl for your brother's life."

"It was supposed to be _me _not _Percy._" Gwen said hotly. She started to take deep breaths. "One, two," she began muttering.

"Oh, dear, he must have gotten it wrong." Gaea didn't look too broken up about anything.

"Three, four,"

"Who's 'he'?" Annabeth asked slowly.

"Five, six,"

"My little spy in the Roman camp."

"Seven, eight,"

"There's a spy...?" Annabeth whispered sadly. It sounded personal.

"Nine, ten,"

"Of course, dear. Do you really think all the little demigods would stay by their parents' sides? The gods hardly pay any attention to them."

"There's not a traitor in First Legion!" Gwen snapped.

"Oh, _Guinevere,_" Gaea purred, she seemed to be getting more and more lively with each passing moment. It only meant to Gwen that Percy was doing the exact opposite. Her vision got red around the edges. "You of all people should know better." Gwen bit her lip. Gaea was right. Like she would actually admit that. She could gladly live in her illusions. "What do the Romans excel at, Guinevere?"

"War, battle." Gwen said. Anything violent. That was the Romans.

"What is the motto, Guinevere?"

"Only the strong survive."

"What do they act like they don't have?"

"Emotions."

"What do they have anyway?"

"Emotions."

"Are all your little demigods good?"

"No." Carson's face and a dozen others flashed in her mind.

"Do you think there's a spy for me in your camp?"

"No." Gwen replied stubbornly. But the answer was yes. She could feel it in her bones. In her skin. There was a traitor who delivered the blow to her brother. Who got her and him all mixed up. She would rip them to pieces. Carson's face played out in her head. But she didn't want to admit it. When she got back to camp, she'd clear that up. She gnawed on her lip. Would those cruel jokesters and gory fighters really step over the line of brutal and border-line evil into the lonely land of "traitor" and "backstabber"? She breathed out her nose hard.

"Really, Guinevere?" Gaea asked, stepping closer to her.

"That's not important." Gwen slightly pushed out her lower lip stubbornly, "I'll ask you again, what's the deal?"

"So very stubborn. That's a trait dominant whether you're Greek or Roman." Gaea sighed like it was ever so troubling to her. She waved her hand over the ground behind her. A small bench-like chair bubbled out of the ground. It hardened. Gaea lounged over on it delicately, the foaming dirt at her feet writhed at the bottom the the chair. "I'll need an item in exchange for your brothers life. An item of equal value."

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked. She already knew though.

"Think on it, little girl." Gaea sighed dramatically as if the conversation was getting old, "The first deal was a life for a life. It's the same deal, just a different person. Here's the coin you need." she snapped her fingers sharply. A bronze coin spat up out of the ground. It landed in Gaea's hand. "If this goes with you, someone stays with me." she sneered.

"No." Piper said, "You will give us the coin and let us go now." her voice shook slightly. Gaea closed her eyes and shook her head. Like she could get Piper's magic voice out of her ears. Gaea waved in front of her face like she was swatting a persistent fly off her nose. Mud jumped up and wrapped around Piper's mouth, harding immediately.

"Piper! Let her go!" Gwen snarled.

"There we go, now I can make my deals without someone pulling their tricks out and trying to fool me. I do so dislike looking over my shoulder all the time."

"How's that working out for you, Master of Monsters?" Gwen snapped. Annabeth and Piper both tightened their grips on her shirt. A silent warning.

"That's Mistress, Guinevere. Master is so..." Gaea scowled for a moment, "sexist."

"An advocate for woman's rights?" Annabeth whispered. Her gray eyes glittered dangerously. Obviously Annabeth was trying to manipulate this small scrap of information to their advantage.

"Is that why you're rising up against the gods?" Annabeth asked so Gaea could hear her. Gaea tilted her head, her sneer drooping slightly into a frown. Her face could've just been melting, though.

"I've been asleep for much too long." Gaea said darkly. "All those men, crowding out the women. The gods have been in power much too long. They've messed with this world and they've grown no wiser. I will fix that. I will burn down the cities. I will bury the masses. I will throw my darling grandchildren into Tarturus so that they may watch what they did to their father before them!" her lips drew back into a nasty snarl. Her rock teeth glittered in the light of the dancing torches. "So many generations of fools!"

"Kronos got what his own father got!" Gwen said, "You encouraged your son to kill his father."

"You can't kill an immortal being, stupid girl."

"That's beside the point!" Gwen countered, "You encouraged it yet you're complaining about all the bloodshed!"

Gaea threw her head back and cackled.

"Guinevere, I will not throw the gods into Tarturus as revenge for the titans. The titans and gods will burn forever together. I simply thought it was a beautiful way for them to spend their time together. But they are generations of fools!" Her eyes were wild, "The titans started it. Kronos was my puppet, my tool to get his father out of the picture. Then the gods came along and now we have this disgusting world. Fools! I will let them hear the screams of the mortals as I show them what you can really do with true power! The titans will simply get in my way, defy my authority in time, rebel against me. When I'm finished with defeating the gods, my giants will join them in the pit of Hell. No one will topple me from my perch. I have heard plots and treachery for eons! I will rule forever! A woman's firm hand with murder the masses. My hand will crush all rebellion. After all, mother knows best."

"You're insane." Gwen said. Gaea laughed again.

"Dear Guinevere, I was not able to kill you earlier. I was tired. I had not anticipated such a defense from one so weak! But I will fix the scores now! I will take all of you! Did you actually think that I would let you all walk away with your brother's life? No! Fools! You are at my mercy! You will nourish me with your lives! You will fall and I will allow your souls to be chained in the sky! From that place, you may watch your gods fall and your families burn! You will never leave my control! NEVER!"

"I think she feels very strongly about this." Gwen whispered to Annabeth.

"But I will have pity on you. I did not expect you to draw out my true plan so quickly. Indeed, I had hoped to see more worry and screaming and tears from you. So I will entertain myself in a different way. Guinevere, how do you feel about watching your brother die in front of your very eyes?"

That's when Gwen had it.

**Chapter XL: PIPER: A Greek's Undying Passion**

The mud was thick and heavy. She didn't like it one bit that Gaea had silenced her in such a fashion. Not only was it getting harder and harder to breathe as Gaea got madder and the mud tightened around her jaw, but the whole purpose of Piper coming on the mission in the first place had been defeated with that one simple act. She had thought she could do good by convincing Gaea to let them go. But her confidence had fractured at the last moment and doubts and consequences leaked in and her voice had stuttered and Gaea had easily shook out of her spell, taking precautions to the extreme. Now she really was entirely useless. Just a burden to them now. And what about Percy? Gaea didn't seem to have any ideas about letting them go as she continued to rant on and on. And Piper couldn't do anything to tip the scales slightly in their favor or at least a little evenly.

"Guinevere," Gaea asked suddenly with a coy smile, "how do you feel about watching your brother die in front of your very eyes?"

Piper could practically feel Gwen snap at that very moment.

Gwen propelled herself out of Annabeth and Piper's arms in that instant. She sputtered something that was a mix of Latin and Ancient Greek. From the Greek part Piper could understand, it wasn't a nice comment. Annabeth and Piper leapt at Gwen. Get her down. Shut her up. Save her. But Gwen spun around, her eyes hard and determined. She flicked one of her wrists.

It happened in a blink of an eye. Piper didn't see it coming. Even if she had, Gwen was much too fast for her to block or protect herself from. Gwen's sword came hurtling at Piper's face. It connected. Annabeth shrieked. Piper felt herself falling. Dazed, she was barely aware of herself hitting the hard packed dirt. Her mud mouth covering shattered, crumbling off of her face. Her nose hurt so bad. Blood mixed with dirt. Her thoughts were fuzzy.

Her mouth was free.

Piper fought past the nausea, the pain, the blood, and the dizziness. She was on her feet in an instant.

"YOU WILL GIVE US THE BRONZE COIN!" Piper thundered. It was not a sweet charming voice. It was an ordering voice. Luckily, it had the same effect. But instead of love or awe, the person was scared. In this case, Gaea, Mother Earth, was cowering on her little mud throne. Gaea flipped the coin into the air. Gwen caught it. Out of the corner of her eye, Piper saw Gwen's legs shake. She was using all her energy. "YOU WILL TELL US HOW TO SAVE PERCY JACKSON!"

"You have to give him something!" Gaea squeaked, "Something of your flesh and blood! Your energy and strength will give him power over my curse!"

"YOU WILL LET US BACK UP TO THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH!"

How was she doing this? This wasn't really charmspeak, this was something else. She glanced at Gwen. Gwen winked at her then mouthed, "Keep it up, daughter of Venus." Venus. Roman goddess of love. The more warlike counterpart to her mother. Every demigod had a portion of Greek and Roman in them. Right now, Piper's Roman blood was shining through, scaring the living crap out of a being at least, if not more, as powerful as the gods themselves.

Gaea waved her arms wide, like she was trying to signal a plane down. The ceiling began to crumble. Piper rubbed her nose. Her blood was running thick down the ripped and filthy sleeve of her jacket.

"HURRY UP!"

A steep, winding staircase spun down to them.

"DON'T MOVE!" Piper ordered. Gwen and Annabeth froze. Piper put her hand to her head. "Oh, great." she muttered, glaring at them. "GAEA, DON'T MOVE! GWEN, ANNABETH, RUN UP THE STAIRS! NOW!"

Then they were running.

Always running. They spiraled up and up, getting dizzier and dizzier but they kept climbing, higher and higher. Piper yelled orders at Gaea so she wouldn't snap out of Piper's spell and crush them into oblivion. She made sure to use her name so that Gwen, Annabeth, Phaeton, the dinosaur, or the unicorn wouldn't obey them instead and mess up her flow.

It felt like they were running fast. But Piper's thoughts were slow and unfinished. She could only yell two commands at Gaea. That was all her mind could process. And the fact she was dripping in blood and starting to feel its absence.

Air.

Sunlight.

Freedom.

In the second they burst through, Piper felt her hold on Gaea melt away. In a matter of milli-moments, Gaea would figure out what happened and drag them back down. Phaeton screamed gleefully in his musical voice and shot up to the sky. Higher and higher. Never looking back. Piper would have watched him if she didn't know they were pressed for time. The unicorn galloped away, muttering the sweetest purrs of joy.

"The beach." Gwen whispered, her eyes on the crashing waves. "GET TO THE SURF!" she bellowed then. It was Piper's turn to listen. Though it didn't totally make sense at first, Piper high-tailed it to the rolling waves. Annabeth was hot on her trail.

The salt burned her scrapes and cuts. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Gwen rushed in and seemed to have the totally opposite effect. Her lips curled and her eyes glittered and her skin tanned. _Behold, the daughter of Poseidon._Piper thought. The little dinosaur rushed in after Gwen.

"Let's go, we're running out of time." Gwen ordered, her general voice coming out strong.

"We could be in the South China Sea for all we know." Annabeth objected grabbing one of Gwen's arms. Piper grabbed the other. The water swirled against the tide at their feet.

"The gods had pity." Gwen smirked, "We did a loopty-loop. We're still in California. Hang on there, Rexie."

Her arms jerked back and then it was like they were on jet skis. They were practically flying on the water.

But would they make it in time to save Percy?

Gwen knew exactly where to go. She seemed to know which beach was First Legion's. She steered them to the shallow end of the water. Then Gwen shot out of their grasp. She was running on the sand, as fast as she possibly could. Piper and Annabeth however couldn't stand on water and fell to their knees. They were almost out of time. Piper didn't know how much longer they had. But it was going to be close. Much too close. She and Annabeth jumped to their feet and were hot on Gwen's heels. They were all exhausted but somehow she found the strength to give super fast spurts of speed.

Rexie cried as they left him in their trail of sand. But they were in too much of a rush to think of anything besides the dying green-eyed boy.

"_Get out of my way!" _Gwen bellowed as she ran through the camp. Romans leapt out of the way as Gwen hurtled past them, Piper and Annabeth a few steps shorter. They tunneled through the camp until Gwen found the hospital tent and ripped open the door flap, flattening two Mars campers guarding the door in the process. Piper found herself snickering for a moment before she whipped into the tent.

Percy looked awful.

Skin and bones. Dull hair. Gaping mouth. Pale skin.

Nico di Angelo looked up from Percy.

"Five minutes." he said. Gwen was frozen.

"Gwen?" Piper whispered. They really didn't know how to fix him still. Gwen spun around.

"_You have to give him something! Something of your flesh and blood! Your energy and strength will give him power over my curse!" _Gwen whispered. Her eyes got bigger. "_But the power to save/ Was in the blood of the three knave." _She looked at them, her eyes sharp. Expecting them to catch on. "_He'll need a strand of Annabeth and Piper's and all of Guinevere's." _ Piper didn't get it. Gwen sighed in exasperation.

"Do you trust me?" she prompted.

"Yeah." she and Annabeth said slowly. Gwen flicked her wrist. Piper didn't have time to flinch. There was a slicing sound and then Gwen had one of Piper's thin braids in her hand. Gwen spun around to Annabeth. She yanked out her pony tail and sliced off a thin lock of Annabeth's blonde curls. Then she turned her back on them. She brought her sword backwards, holding her hair firmly, and sliced. All of her long black hair. All the way to the base of her neck. Suddenly, it was in her hand.

"Gwen!" Piper gasped. Gwen was determined though. She twisted her hair around and around. Piper caught flashes of her own and Annabeth's and Gwen's white hair peeking through Gwen's silky black. She was next to Percy in a flash. She had their hair around his waist firmly and then placed the bronze coin from Gaea on the free strands.

"Leo!" Leo seemed to know what Gwen wanted. He put his hands on the bronze coin. There was the smell of burning hair and the bronze coin was melted onto the hair ends firmly.

All the Greeks besides Leo were pressed against the fabric wall of the tent, their mouths agape. All of the Apollo cabin mirrored their expression. Leo slowly backed up so he could join the gaping ranks. Percy's eyes opened. They were bright and sharp. Slowly, he sat up. Piper could see his hair getting darker and thicker, his skin getting darker, his fat and muscle returning to his body.

He jerked forward a little, one hand on his stomach, the other on his mouth. Then he jerked forward and was sick. All over himself and Gwen. There was a slight _ding! _Piper watched a bronze coin hit the floor and roll away. Everyone's eyes followed it until it hit the edge of the tent and fell over.

"I'm okay now." Percy said a little sheepishly, looking over himself and Gwen. "Are you okay, Gwen? Annabeth? Piper?"

"Percy!" Gwen squealed. She wrapped her arms around his neck in an intense bear hug. Annabeth raced forward and joined the sickly mess. Piper hesitated then shrugged and mashed herself in, feeling hot puke run down her shirt.

Out of the corner of her eye, everyone was partially smiling to down right squealing but only the three of them were stupid or crazy enough to hug Percy in his messy condition. Even Nico had a small smile on his lips.

Then, suddenly, the puke didn't matter and everything in that instant felt right.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter XLI: GUINEVERE: The Traitor Unmasked**

"Get him cleaned up, okay, boys!" Gwen called as she walked out the door. Jason, Leo, and Nico looked after her. Leo was cracking jokes left and right. Jason was grimacing at Percy while he tried to figure out _how _he would clean him up _without _touching him. Nico was holding a long horse brush and was glaring at Gwen like "how did I get myself caught up in this?" Percy looked like he wanted to just melt into the floor and not worry about this whole mess. Gwen laughed a little and closed the door firmly.

Even though Percy wasn't dying anymore, his strength was still slow to coming back. Which meant someone would have to volunteer to help give him a bath after his bronze coin expelling episode. Gwen had already taken a quick shower and was beginning to realize just how short her hair was. She'd never realized just how heavy her hair was until it was gone. It felt weird for it to tickle her neck and her white stripe of hair was annoying.

Gwen sighed a little and turned around. She jumped back, a cry of shock bubbling in her throat, but she forced it down and took two steps forward, glaring darkly at the person who'd snuck up on her.

"I actually want to see you for once. I have some things to discuss with you." she told him. Carson started to sneer then he shook his head.

"Help me, fast! It's Daisy, she's hurt! She went out of the borders and collapsed!" Carson sounded genuine. Gwen hesitated for a moment, something in her gut saying "no, no, no!" but it was Daisy. She nodded and took off, Carson chasing her.

She, Piper, and Annabeth had hardly gotten a breather since they'd come barging into camp and saved Percy. It was simply chaos, chaos, and more chaos. Chaos was uncommon in First Legion so of course all the Romans were half acting like they'd catch a chaos bug if they got too close to a Greekie and half acting like the Greeks were just slightly odd cousins.

Gwen was exhausted. She still hadn't recovered from her fight with Gaea. The only thing that was keeping her on her feet, as unsteady as they were, was some serious adrenaline, intense relief, and a little ambroisa. Any second they would subside a little and exhaustion would come prowling out to pounce on her. But for now, she would help Carson save Daisy. Then she could interrogate him and _go to sleep._

"Where!" she yelled at him, her swords out.

"There!" he yelled back, pointing.

Gwen leapt over the fence. It hurt when she landed solidly on her feet. Daisy was laying in the dirt, blood in her blonde hair. There was no sign of any monsters. Gwen landed painfully on her knees and dropped her swords. She turned Daisy over. She was alive. Just unconscious. She felt the back of her head. What a bump.

"It looks like someone just snuck up and clubbed her in the back-"

Pain.

Gwen was choking on her words, trying to get them out. Slowly she looked down. A sword tip was poking out of her. The bronze was dripping in her red blood. Her purple shirt was turning dark red. The sword was jerked out of her.

Gwen fell forward but stopped herself with her arms. The pain was so intense. She'd never gotten such a serious injury and she was already so weak and exhausted. She turned a little so she could see her attacker.

Carson had his sword close to his face. He was examining it, watching her blood drip down the blade. A small smile wormed its way onto his face. How could she have been so stupid and blind? Of course it was Carson. She worked her mouth. She could only manage to force out one word.

"Why?"

**Chapter XLII: PIPER: Gwen Gets Dirty**

"I guess you did okay, for a Greek that is." Reyna told Piper reluctantly. Piper smiled. That was as good as it was going to get with Reyna. Her face settled into a slight scowl. Apparently that was all the niceness Reyna could muster up for Piper. "We sure have one foul mess to clean up, though." she glared at Piper like it was personally her fault.

"Hey," Piper held her hands up defensively, "Gwen did it, not me. You can't pin Percy's mess on me."

"You could have stopped her." Reyna shrugged. They both knew the argument was getting plain stupid.

"Why didn't _you _stop her?"

"I don't know, why didn't you?" Reyna countered.

"I dunno." Piper glared at Reyna then glared at her cheeseburger. She was super hungry. The thought of food was pretty overwhelming and the fact that, oh, by the way, it's fresh! But something kept tugging at her. Something kept saying "wrong, wrong, wrong". Usually when she thought about Gwen. But Gwen was totally fine. Piper had left Gwen when she'd said she'd get the boys set up to wash Percy then go crash somewhere. Annabeth had been engulfed in a crowd of eager demigods aching to hear the tale of their success. Apparently they had more confidence in a daughter of Athena than one of Aphrodite. Piper couldn't say she blamed them and the thought of real actual food was so promising...

But now she was caught in a "I dunno" kick-off with Reyna, unable to eat her burger because of the bowl of worms in her stomach. She shifted uncomfortably. Gwen was fine. Gwen was asleep. Gwen would kick anyone's butt who would disturb her. Gwen was fine.

"Have you seen Daisy?" Like a dark shadow, Bianca was next to her. Piper bit her knuckles to keep from squealing in surprise.

"No, why?" she asked calmly, getting control over herself. Bianca still looked a little hurt.

"She was going to walk me through a...uh...couple..." Bianca ducked her head.

"A couple what?" Piper prompted, trying to get her mind of her wiggling insides. Reyna sat down on Piper's other side.

"Uh...just a couple...of...uh..."

"Come on, B, spit it out." Reyna encouraged.

"Singing lessons." Bianca whispered so softly Piper had to read her lips.

"You sing?" Piper asked.

"Shh!" Bianca ducked her head, trying to hide. The shadows welcomed her. "Daisy says I have a magic voi-" she stopped. Her head slowly rose. Her black hair was like curtains around her face but Piper caught glimpses of her wide eyes. Her head was tilted ever so slightly, like she was listening to a tune far away...

"Bianca, what's wrong?" Reyna whispered.

"Something...is very...wrong." Bianca whispered. Piper and Reyna leaned closer to her.

"What do you mean?" they breathed together.

"It's...Gwen." Bianca closed her eyes tightly, then they flew back open, "She's dying."

"Where!" Reyna demanded.

"The border. Over there." Bianca pointed.

"RED ALERT!" Reyna stood up, screaming, "Lieutenant in trouble! All heroes to Northwest border! NOW!" Then she was sprinting and Piper was right in league with her, incredibly.

But they were too late.

The mud was swallowing her slowly. It was probably crushing her as it went. Daisy was being slowly pulled in also. But she was only in to her knees. All they could see of Gwen was her right hand and wrist. With its thick leather bracelet with too many lines. With its blood oozing down.

"GUINEVERE!" Someone yelled. Piper remembered something that Daisy had told her long ago. Well, it hadn't been that long, but she'd been through so much recently..._ "Even though no one will probably admit it, we need Gwen. She's way too Greek but she's a thing we need. Our camp will fight to the death to keep you from taking her back."_

Now there was sweet little Daisy sinking into Gaea's clutches and Gwen nearly gone and probably already dead.

"No!" Bianca yelled, the loudest thing Piper had ever heard her utter. Bianca jumped forward and slammed her fists into the dirt. Her face turned red with exertion. The only patch of mud quivered as the solid ground around it cracked and shook. Bianca threw her arms back behind her. The huge boulder she'd created launched out of the ground and flew backward, onto First Legion territory. Bianca collapsed, gasping. Piper grabbed her by the back of the shirt and dragged her onto the border.

Not a moment too soon. The mud lashed after Bianca's feet but it hit the magical borders and splayed out, inching along, looking like a really creepy sucker. Piper just gaped at it intelligently.

"Thank you." Bianca whispered.

"Anytime." Piper gave her a small smile.

"Get her out of there!" someone screamed.

"She can't breathe!" another yelled. Several Mars campers yanked out their swords and knifes and shields and began to hammer on the sides of Bianca's boulder. Other campers decided to be really smart and punch at the rock or take other rocks and pound on the edges. Then Leo came running up, armed with a jackhammer from the Vulcan cabin, and split the rock open without breaking a sweat. A couple campers mumbled that the "stupid Greekie" was just "getting in the way". But most of them slapped Leo pretty hard on the back.

"All in a day's work!" Leo tried to stand heroicly, chuckling at his own corny joke, then winced and touched his back when everyone went to digging out Gwen. A couple campers jumped up to the top and began trying to free Daisy's legs. Gwen was buried in mud. But they found her. Indelicately, but she was found. The dirt and blood was thick on her skin and her breathing was jerky and few, but it was still there.

"Look at all the dirt in her wound!" Reyna snarled, rushing forward to part the crowd so she could examine Gwen.

"Look at the _wound!_" Bobby said, touching her ripped shirt. "Who could have done that to _Guinevere?" _

"Why didn't Gaea just suck her in?" Piper asked, coming behind Reyna to look at Gwen. Gwen's eyes opened a little.

"She was out of energy."

"What?" Piper asked, getting down on her knees. "She seemed just fine to me!"

"Gwen, you shouldn't be talking!" Reyna ordered, "I need to get her moved!"

"Precisely," Gwen answered, her voice slow but determined, ignoring Reyna, "She used way too much energy ranting at us then trying to catch us. She didn't have that to burn. She needs to rest. But she wanted us bad. Bad enough to make a stupid mistake."

"What mistake?" Bobby demanded eagerly, holding his sword hilt tighter.

"She played her traitor card."

"What?"

"She told her spy to get one of us, in this case he chose me, to her so she could slowly capture us with her remaining strength."

"What was the mistake?" Bobby insisted. Piper listened closely.

"She doesn't have her spy anymore. She played her card and failed."

"Failed?" Piper snorted.

"Oh, I'm fine, just throw me in a bucket of water."

"Who was the traitor?" Reyna asked.

"Carson Roberts."

"I can believe that." Bobby replied darkly. "He just likes to do things to stir up trouble and cause chaos. This is all just a big game to him."

"I wonder what's going to happen when he realizes its not." Gwen said quietly. She gritted her teeth then and curled her body, holding her arms over her wound.

"I want some manpower, now!" Reyna shouted. "I need a tub full of seawater at the hospital tent and I want it now! Gwen, how do you feel?"

Gwen forced herself to uncurl. She was in no way relaxed. Her jaw was tight. Then she sighed, forcing herself to relax. She pulled at her purple T-shirt. "Damn," she muttered darkly, "I running out of these fast."

**Chapter XLIII: ANNABETH: The Acceptance of the Wise**

It was dinner time but Annabeth was in the Minvera cabin, drawing quietly. Gwen was still soaking in her sea bathtub. Of course Percy's sister was completely fine, simply annoyed that she'd been outsmarted. Gaea's mud and any bacteria she'd slipped into Gwen's blood was easily cleaned thanks to Poseidon's gift to his children over water.

"So, I want to know one thing." Annabeth looked up from her work. Dakota was leaning against the edge of the door of the cabin. Nonchalant and unnatural for a Roman. He stood up and walked into the cabin, pulling up a chair and sitting down to observe the mess Annabeth had made.

"Sure." she replied, looking down at her work critically. Dakota's gray eyes roved around the desk she was using. She had about five maps out. Pens, markers, pencils, notes, rulers...they littered the table space and the maps. But Dakota's lip didn't curl back in disgust or in preparation for a rude comment. Instead he just observed silently, a peaceful look on his features.

"How did you find our camp?" he asked, "Lupa said you couldn't."

"I didn't." Annabeth replied, erasing a wayward mark on her map, "Jason did. We strung him up like masthead when we got to the San Francisco area and he just sensed you guys out. Once we caught sight of the camp-it's not invisible to Greek demigods-we reeled him back in so it wouldn't look like we were torturing him or anything."

Dakota chuckled slightly but controlled it.

"You Greeks are so different." he said quietly. He picked up one of Annabeth's colored pencils. It had grown considerably smaller and duller since in Annabeth's use. He turned it over his his hands. "Some of your ways are wrong. But a few are easier and smarter. A few of them are enviable."

"Thank you."

"Just a few though." he gave her a genuine smile. "What are you working on?"

"The map you gave me." Annabeth hardened her expression, a motion she'd started to pick up from the stupid Romans, and looked at her work.

"What are you putting on it?"

"The journey to Greece." Annabeth looked up to Dakota, her sharp gray eyes meeting his hard ones. "Someone has to plan it out."

Dakota slowly stood up, stretching like he'd been there for a while. "I couldn't think of anyone better." he started to walk out. When he got to the threshold, he paused and looked over his shoulder, "Oh, yeah, Percy was looking for you. He headed off to the beach."

"Thanks, Dakota, I need a break from all these lines." Annabeth stood up herself and began to put away her utensils. Dakota remained in the doorway. At first she thought it was so he could make sure she didn't put anything away wrong.

"You know what?" he said. Annabeth expected him to chew her out for not color-coding the highlighters, "I'm glad you Greekies came, big sister."

Then he walked out.

What a change from her first time in the cabin with him.

**Chapter XLIV: GUINEVERE: Final Decisions**

She'd escaped.

Now she was simply laying on the beach, feeling the water lap at her toes. She could slightly hear the commotion from the pavilion as everyone ate and talked about the mission, jokes, work, life, and the upcoming war.

_So, did you miss me, little sister?_ Percy's voice asked in her head. A slow smile curled her lips.

_You and your stupid comments invading my head's privacy? Are you kidding? I was dancing when you collapsed._

_Annabeth said you had your fair share of stupid comments. _Percy said slyly.

_I knew you were a bad influence from the start. _Gwen replied. Percy chuckled and sat down next to her in the sand. Gwen sat up. Percy looked completely fine now. No marks, no bruises, no scars. She wouldn't believe he'd been two seconds from death earlier that day if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes.

"Now that you're okay," Gwen said, "We have another problem." Percy looked over to her. "The war." a warm breeze ruffled their hair. It felt so weird to have her short hair.

"It doesn't feel like we should be discussing the war in a place like this." Percy said, sighing as the warm water licked his feet and the toasty sand rolled through his fingers. Gwen nodded silently. "You should go instead of me." Percy announced.

"I didn't know you got hit on the head too." Gwen replied.

"Gwen, I'm serious."

"So am I. Percy, you're needed on this quest."

"You're just like me, just better." Percy argued.

"What makes you say I'm better?" Was he insane? Gwen better than him? Yeah, whatever, in some really wacky dreams.

"You're the lieutenant of this camp. You're the best fighter there is."

"You're better at fighting than I am." Gwen answered evenly.

"That's why you always win and you always find a hundred mistakes when we fight." Percy said sarcastically.

"A fighter is not measured in the number of battles they have won." Gwen said.

"You sound like Chiron."

"Just a couple thousand years younger?"

"Yeah." Percy chuckled.

"They already have the captain on the quest. You don't need me. The Greeks need you to keep them in check. And, whether you want to hear it or not, you're much stronger than I am."

"How do you figure?" Percy glared at her.

"Favoritism." Gwen replied, "Daddy likes his little boys better than his little girls." she smiled, "You know what seven are going on your quest, right?"

"Jason, Leo, Piper, Annabeth, and I guess me."

"Good. Jason because he is Captain and the son of Jupiter." Gwen said, running down through the names, "Leo because of his gift of fire. Piper because of her unusual personality and charmspeaking capability. Annabeth because she is the pride of the Athena and Minerva cabins. You because you are the strongest and bravest and stupidest of the Poseidon and Neptune cabins. Reyna for her expertise in healing and archery. Bobby because of who his father is and his ability to anger the enemy. You seven will save the rest of us."

"You really think we can do it, Gwen?" Percy asked.

"It doesn't really matter if we can or can't." Gwen replied, standing up slowly, she was still a little iffy on her legs, "What matters is what's right and wrong. Anyway, you're too stubborn or stupid to back down anyway." Percy grinned at her, "See you later, bro, your date has arrived." she turned around. Annabeth's golden hair caught the light from the moon. "Catch ya later, Annabeth."

She touched her necklace. Everything was coming to a head. But for now it was okay. For now she would enjoy her brother until it was time for him to leave on his quest and then leave her for his Greek camp. Because Camp Half-Blood needed him and First Legion needed her. That's just the way things had to be sometimes.

She left the beach behind her and began her search of Rexie. It was his bedtime and she had a feeling he'd eaten another shirt of hers.

Chapter XLV: Burning and Love

Piper sat down and closed her eyes. What she wanted to do was go over and talk to Jason. But she knew she couldn't. So she would simply sit in the grass next to the camp fire and look into the flames. A shadow darkened her patch of light. She looked up. Reyna glared at her.

"I might tolerate you but don't get comfortable. This is _my _camp. Don't go anywhere near Jason, got it, make-up queen?"

"Listen here, blondie." Piper snapped at her, standing up. "I don't care who's camp this is. You don't need to tolerate me or talk down to me or anything. Just stay out of my way. I have just as much right as you to talk to Jason so just cool down. Get off my back and, just an FYI, but I don't wear make-up."

With that, she stomped off, leaving Reyna to gape after her.

"Making friends?" Leo chuckled from his cabin as she stormed past. Piper growled in response. When she got to where she couldn't see Reyna anymore, Piper stopped and sat down. Then there was a musical cry. Piper looked up and a ball of fire landed next to her. Phaeton shook off some ash.

"You're back!" Piper cried. "I thought you couldn't pass through the borders."

"I'm not a monster. Pegasi can pass through without a blink and so can I." Phaeton snapped lyrically at her, acting a little hurt. "I kind of missed you guys anyways."

"Aw, Phaeton, does somebody have a heart?" Piper cooed.

"What is that!" Leo jumped down next to her. "It's a flaming chicken!"

"It's a Phoenix." Piper correcting, laughing a little at the way Phaeton puffed up over the word "chicken". "Right, Phaeton?"

Phaeton cooed at her.

"He helped us with the quest." Piper explained to Leo.

"What made you name a chicken Phaeton?"

"He told us it was Phaeton." Piper replied.

"He can talk?"

"Yup. Show him, Phaeton." Phaeton however cocked his head at her and pecked around at the ground, acting like a real bird.

"Piper," Leo said, patting her on the shoulder, "I told you not to sniff that stuff, it makes you see things."

"But-I-he-" Piper stuttered but Leo skipped off, whistling a tune. "Phaeton." Phaeton ducked his head a little. "I'm going to wring your chicken neck!"

ANNABETH:

Gwen walked off and Annabeth was left with Percy.

"Hey, Wise Girl." he said, grinning. Annabeth walked up to him and punched him real hard in the shoulder. "Ow..."

"Stop dying like that, Percy!" Annabeth chewed him out, "I can't handle much more of your near-death experiences! Which means I'll just have to come with you on this next quest to make sure you don't do anything unnaturally stupid. You hear me, Seaweed Brain?"

"I'm starting to." Percy stood up and wrapped his arms around her. Lightly. Probably so he could escape if she went ninja on him again. She laughed a little. To wait so long to almost loose him again...Now it was all okay because Percy had his arms around her and she was safe.

"Seaweed Brain?"

"Yes, Wise Girl?" Percy whispered back to her.

"Promise me something."

"Anything."

"Promise me that you'll help me figure out how to get these two demigod camps together."

"Annabeth,"

"Yes, Percy?"

"Definitely."

He tilted her chin up lightly with one of his hands and brought his forehead to hers. "Annabeth,"

"Yes?" she whispered, her heart pounding.

"I love you."

Then he kissed her worries away.

_Author's Note: I had to end the book with a Percabeth moment. I was just so...perfect. :)  
>Thanks for reading my fanfiction everyone! I love my readers and the comments and encouragement you give!<br>__Unfortunately, I'm not going to start the fourth book to my fanfiction series right away. I've got some original stories that have been stacking up as I've neglected them for my Percy Jackson fanfic.  
>Thank you everyone for your wonderful support! X) <em>


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